Gunshot Silence, Blood Red Lights
by desperatelyobvious
Summary: St. Xavier was just like any other school–boring teachers, school uniforms & the occasional run in with your smokin' hot ex-boyfriend you're still in love with. But when a dangerous threat comes to school & you're stuck with two freshmen, your sister's friend, your Calculus seatmate, and said ex-boyfriend? Well, let's see how long we'll all last...if we don't kill each other first.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys!  
**  
So this idea has always been on the backburner of all my story ideas (and trust me, I have _21_ existing ideas currently being developed all at the same time), but for some reason, I suddenly felt the strongest urge to finally tackle and pursue this one.

I don't have many thoughts on this story idea, other than the fact that I wanted to write something that had suspense, friendship, angst and romance all at once – a pretty cool challenge if I do say so myself. :P

To be honest, this merely had a 12-line outline and all chapters were written without forethought and prior planning. This is all just off the back of my mind, something I was working on when I wasn't desperately trying to write for my chapter story _Secrets and Lies. _Most of the facts and the culture are slightly based off my private school back in high school. This isn't some _magnum opus_ or anything; but it has a story :)

Note:  
If you didn't already infer from my summary, this is an **AU, AH story**. That being said, characters will be OOC but I had made sure to retain most of their personality. This is strictly **rated T** for some gory descriptions and heavy content. It'll last for exactly **12 chapters** including the prologue and the epilogue – no more, no less. Chapters range from 'super short' to 'just long enough', but every chapter is important to the story and will have substance.

And this'll be the first and last time I'll say this: I (pretty freakin' obviously) don't own Maximum Ride.

**Synopsis: **St. Xavier was just like any other school – boring teachers, school uniforms, and the occasional run in with your smokin' hot ex-boyfriend you're still in love with. But when a dangerous threat comes to school and you're stuck with two freshmen, your sister's friend, your Calculus seatmate, and said ex-boyfriend; well, let's see how long we'll all last...if we don't kill each other first.

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

School is your home away from home.

Unless you were being bullied, it was supposed to be a safe haven where kids were sent to learn and make friends in a peaceful environment. Of course, that was the sugarcoated definition given by schools and teachers themselves, but I for one didn't really have a problem with it either.

Some teachers were insufferable, but when were they not? And a good minority of them were really good at what they did best.

You have your friends, a handful of people that you trust most. And you had your enemies, which was okay, because when was high school ever easy?

You excel in academics; and if not, then you're forte lies in sports, or choir, or writing. You may be good at everything, or maybe just one thing.

But that was the thing about school: everything was a learning process – learning the basic subjects, then learning what you're good at, learning about what you want to do when you're older, who your true friends were, and maybe even finding the one you wanted to marry. Finding yourself first, because that was the most important thing; and learning the rest about life as you go on.

Although sometimes, school isn't all it's cracked up to be. There will be bullying, maybe even a lot of it; fights, especially in high school; a lot of gossiping and backbiting because girls are just catty and pathetic like that. There will be a hundred of other trials and problems you'd have to face, and a hundred other more such as relationships and school work that can bring you down.

School isn't just meant for academic purposes. That the main prerogative, sure, but stepping foot into the threshold is you allowing yourself to be thrust upon with conflict. It entails all the drama, and we go to school battling our own struggles to prepare us for the real world. We'll learn, and we'll get smarter, and we'll have success and losses; we'll cry when we get pushed down, and we'll get back up eventually; we'll make friends along the way, and we'll figure things out in the end. No one gets out of high school unscathed.

School was made to prepare us for any situations in life that came our way; but _this_ wasn't something that could be learned, something that any of us could prepare for.

Not this. Never this.

* * *

_Max_

In the end, I guess I had my bladder to thank for this.

Then again, it was my aversion to Mr. Wright's droning lecture in the first place that made me ask to be excused to the lavatory 20 minutes before the final bell, so I should ultimately be thanking Mr. Wright.

Technically I wasn't skipping class since I had the hall pass – I was by no means a 'bad girl' – but any second longer in that classroom and I swear I would've flipped my desk and ran out, screaming. Normally, I could stand to pay attention and take down notes grudgingly, but today had been more exhausting than most days and I just wanted to go home already. I was tired, running on only two hours of sleep finishing my English term paper at the last minute; and I was hungry, having spent the entire lunch period studying for a test next period.

I wasn't normally one to procrastinate but it was Hell Week here at St. Xavier High, the week before finals, which meant all the teachers were dumping their papers and projects on their students at the last minute to meet the quota number of assessments required per subject. Bullshit, if you ask me.

There wasn't much to do alone in the halls, so I spent my first few minutes of freedom organizing my locker out of boredom. It wasn't cluttered, really, so that only took me three minutes before I was back to doing nothing. Eventually, I was reduced to roaming the halls, occasionally reading the posters and bulletin boards on the walls.

It was actually nice and pretty relaxing to walk the halls alone. St. Xavier was a private school so everything was pristine and neat, with the marble floors waxed and the cherry red lockers polished to perfection. Not a single piece of trash littered the ground, and the air was somehow always tinged with the scent of raspberry air freshener. Major kudos to the auxiliary staff.

My mind wandered from thought to thought as I walked, not lingering too long on any particular subject. I didn't want to stress on anything since my mind was already winding down for the weekend, already imagining myself sleeping in on Saturday. By the time I'd reached the main hallway, I had a few more minutes till dismissal. Subconsciously, I made my way to the nearest bathroom.

During dismissal, I usually had this routine I'd follow to make sure everything was in order. The moment the bell rang I immediately pack my things (insert the occasional conversations between friends here), then head straight to my locker to get the rest of my stuff. I take a trip to the bathroom in case I needed to piss, and when I'm all set I wait by my car in the school's parking lot for Ari and Ella, my younger brother and sister. If any of the three of us had an extra curricular activity at school, we would drive the 10 minutes home, drop off our bags and change into our uniform, then I would drive us back to school in time. Rinse, repeat.

Now to clear the confusion on why I had thanked my bladder in the beginning, it was because I needed to piss. I needed to piss and I rearranged the order of my routine.

Most stories neglect to mention the fact that everyone needs to pee. It's a normal, everyday activity. I guess it's not important to mention it, especially if the story were centered on romance or horror or something, but in the grand scheme of things my need to take a leak was what saved my life.

I'm not going to go into details – I'm _sure_ you all know what you need to do when you pee – so it wasn't long until I was exiting the cubicle and washing my hands thoroughly at the sink. As an afterthought, I splashed my face and arms with the cool water, clutching the marble countertop as I let the water slide off my skin.

Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I couldn't help but scrutinize what I saw. The dark circles under my eyes were prominent against my pale skin, making me look sick and ghostly in the fluorescent lights. My normally shiny wave blond hair would've been limp and dull had it been down, but I couldn't bring myself to care as I've been putting it into a messy bun these days. My maroon necktie was knotted loose around my collar, my blazer and blouse askew, and I knew I wouldn't do anything to change that either.

_Just one more term, Max. Two and a half more months and you're off to college._

I never heard the final bell, but I figured enough time had passed for it to already be dismissal. Drying my hands off with a few paper towels, I made my way to the door so I could finally head home.

I wish I could say I'd felt it. I wish I could tell you that I knew something was wrong, or that the atmosphere felt different the moment I stepped out into the hall, but I didn't. I was so ridiculously oblivious to what was going on a few doors down that I'm surprised I survived that long.

Turning on my heel to head back to my classroom, I'd only taken two steps when it happened.

Without warning, all the lights suddenly shut off at once, plunging me in complete darkness in the middle of the hallway.

Three seconds later, the tiny round emergency lights at every other wide interval switched on, illuminating small round patches of the marble floor red.

There was no alarm, nothing to signify what type of emergency this was. I'd studied here since my first year in high school, and I've long since practiced and committed all the earthquake and fire drills to memory. Each drill constituted a different type of siren or bell; but as I listened for something, anything; the halls remained eerily quiet like a blanket of silence draped over everything, suffocating every other noise.

That was worse than hearing a siren or a bell come onto the intercom.

It was then that my heart clenched at the infinite possibilities, frozen on the spot as I stared at the red emergency lights a few feet down the hall with only my ragged breathing in my ears.

* * *

**Aaand scene.**

I know it's not much yet but things are only going to pick up from here! Tell me what you think about it so far :)

.: Tiffany :.


	2. Chapter One

**Wow.** I received so much more reviews that I was expecting. Thank you :)

I also can't help but feel a little bit pressured, like some of you have some expectations; but this _is_ an all-human story (so no fire-wielding Gazzy or whatever) with everything pre-written. I'll try my best to polish it up a bit more as I put up chapters.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

_There was no alarm, nothing to signify what type of emergency this was. I'd studied here since my first year in high school, and I've long since practiced and committed all the earthquake and fire drills to memory. Each drill constituted a different type of siren or bell; but as I listened for something, anything; the halls remained eerily quiet like a blanket of silence draped over everything, suffocating every other noise._

_That was worse than hearing a siren or a bell come onto the intercom._

_It was then that my heart clenched at the infinite possibilities, frozen on the spot as I stared at the red emergency lights a few feet down the hall with only my ragged breathing in my ears._

I was pretty much a sitting duck as I stood frozen there; blinking, and breathing, and reaching out my arms to grasp the empty air in panic. I must've been standing there for quite a while, my thudding heart giving away my location to anyone close by before I realized what an idiot I must've looked like and I did the only think I could think to do: run back inside the bathroom I just came from.

There were no emergency lights in the bathroom, so the moment the door closed behind me I was blind. The more logical thing to do would've been to run to the teacher's faculty or the nearest on-going class to find out what was going on, but for some reason my gut instinct held me back.

Alone in the bathroom I figured I could gather my bearings and try to make sense of everything. I may not have been thinking straight, but I had every right to panic.

This has never happened at St. Xavier.

This school had enough money to invest in generators, and Principal Eddison would've made an announcement about what was going on by now. Maintenance was always on the job, so nothing in the lines could've been cut, and the school would've either suspended classes or announced if repairs were being made.

None of this made sense.

Leaning against the marble counter of the sinks, I continued to try to think of a plausible reason for the situation as I calmed down. If you looked up the definition of 'paranoid' in the dictionary, you'd see my worried face next to it.

Maybe I was blowing things out of proportion. Maybe it was just a busted electricity line somewhere and I would laugh at myself when I got home. As I focused on calming down, trying to get my breathing in check, I began to notice that I could not only hear my own breathing, but someone else's _next to me…_

Whipping my phone out from my pocket and pressing the home button, the screen came to life and illuminated a face right in front of me.

"_JESUS CHRIST!_"

I fell to the ground, my butt crashing full force against the tiled floor as my phone flew from my grasp a few feet away from me.

"_Oh my God_, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" the person said, her long mocha-colored legs the only thing I could see from my still-lit phone. As I picked myself back up, trying to hide just how painful my tailbone was and how hard my heart was trying to make its way out of my ribcage, the other person picked up my phone from the ground and cautiously approached me, extending a slender hand to give it back.

I instantly turned the light in her direction, taking in the girl's curly brown hair and flawless dark complexion. She was a few inches shorter than me, her brown eyes slightly red and squinting up into the light.

Because St. Xavier had such a small population, each graduating class consisting of about 100 students every year, almost everyone knew one another. Seniors didn't normally know the lowerclassmen, but there were a few exceptions. Like the girl on front of me – after all, she was my sister's best friend.

"Nudge," I breathed in exasperation, glaring down at the girl in front of me. "Were you here this whole time?"

She nodded multiple times, rubbing her nose as she sniffled. "Yeah, I was just doing my business when the lights went out-"

At the word 'business' my eyebrows shot to my hairline and I gave her an amused look. She looked confused for a moment before my insinuation dawned on her and she blushed furiously.

"Not _that_ business! I've got my period, okay?" she said defensively, whisper-shouting.

"Then why didn't you say something when I came back in?" I argued back.

"Because I wasn't sure if you'd be something dangerous or-"

"_Wait._ So you feel it too?" I asked her, subconsciously moving closer to Nudge to keep our voices down. She was glaring at me for interrupting her – no one interrupts The Nudge Channel – but other people's glares never really affected me.

"Feel what?"

I swept my hand to gesture everything around me, my other hand still holding my phone as our only source of light. "_This_ – whatever this is! For some reason we're both whispering. Don't you get the feeling that something's going on?"

"Yeah. I was about to text my friend Krystal before you came in, but look," she brought out her own phone and showed me the screen. "No signal, which is strange because like, doesn't St. Xavier have a tiny cell tower on the Admissions building?" she pointed out. Glancing back at the screen of my own phone, I noticed that I didn't have service as well. _Huh._

"Come on." I grabbed Nudge's wrist and headed for the door, ready to barge into the next occupied room and demand for answers.

The moment we stepped out of the bathroom, however, we both suddenly froze.

Call me paranoid, but I could swear that something suddenly changed in the atmosphere then. It didn't feel this dense when I was walking the halls a while ago; it didn't feel this…_dangerous._ It felt like we were both walking through thick, humid air; or like some trap was suddenly going to spring out and capture us. I have always trusted my gut instinct, and right now it was telling me that something was most definitely wrong.

Looking left and right, the halls were completely deserted. Although St. Xavier was a large school with a small population, there was almost always someone around the corner – whether another student headed to the offices or the bathrooms, a teacher, or a custodian even. Glancing at my watch, it was already six minutes past dismissal. The hallways shouldn't have been this quiet.

"This is so weird," Nudge said under her breath, clutching my arm in a vise grip as we walked side by side down the main hall.

I couldn't agree with her more. With every passing second, I was only growing more confused and frustrated with not knowing. My blood had long since run cold, that much I knew, but I didn't understand how things could get so bad so fast. And for some reason we both knew calling for help would be a bad idea, so neither of us said anything more as we walked forward in the dim red light.

I was 99.9% sure something bad was going on, but I couldn't help but mentally roll my eyes at the entire scenario – the red emergency lights, the unusually barren hallways, the lack of cell signal? This was just the perfect setting of a really cheesy horror movie, and I could already imagine laughing about this with my best fri- I mean, _ex_-best friend if he were here with me. If this wasn't happening to me.

I was an idiot for not reacting fast enough, for stopping to listen to my surroundings instead of sprinting away in the other direction like any normal person would've done; and I was pretty damn sure I'd be dead by now if Nudge and I had collided with some psychotic killer and not the two freshmen who bolted from around the corner and crashed headlong into us.

I instantly snapped out of my thoughts as a flurry of blonde barreled into my chest, making me fall onto my (_already sore_) ass a second time and knocking the wind out of me. For a moment I just sat on the ground with my arms braced, gritting my teeth as my bones shook from the impact, but the two hadn't even let me give them a piece of my mind before the boy helped me to my feet with a hurried, "_C'mon!_" and we were all suddenly running down the hallway in the opposite direction.

This made me even more sick with nerves (as if I wasn't already twitchy enough), but there was no questioning the fear and panic evident from the two freshmen we ran into. The taller of the two – the boy – continued to glance back every now and then, eyes wide and on the lookout from whatever we were running away from. I noticed the petite girl struggling to keep up with our pace, swiping at her eyes as traitorous tears blurred her vision.

I couldn't tell how long we'd been running, couldn't even tell which hallway we were in even if I knew this school like the back of my hand, but after a while I realized we were running in circles blindly and I knew I had to take the reins from then. Gaining speed, I moved past the boy and lead them right around a corner, my mind recalibrating to my surroundings as I sought out some place we could stop to catch our breath.

Straight ahead, I spotted a custodian's closet right before the corner and I immediately sprinted towards it, opened the doors to breathlessly usher them inside the tiny space, right before I closed it behind me.

We pretty much dog-piled into the closet, elbowing and shoving each other to get a semblance of personal space. All my senses went haywire. The pungent smell of cleaning products hit my nose full force – a stark contrast to the crisp air in the halls – and my skin pricked with claustrophobia the moment I shut the door. Not to mention I was cramped in a custodian's closet in the dark with three other people I barely knew.

Not exactly how I wanted to spend my Friday night.

After everyone finally stopped squirming, I brought out my phone again and unlocked it to illuminate the small room. The bright light from my phone's screen lit all four of our faces, contouring our features in shadow. I could already tell that it was Nudge crouching beside me on my right, but it took my eyes a moment to figure out who the freshmen were.

I actually wouldn't have known them had it not been the Astor twins, Angel and Zephyr. To be honest, I never bothered to know Ari's classmates considering I never really cared to get to know other people and I'd be graduating in a few weeks anyway. The Astor twins had somewhat of a reputation here, though; and they were one out of the two pairs of twins here in school.

Matching bright blonde hair and wide blue eyes the color of the afternoon sky, they stared back at me and Nudge with a mix of both worry and gratitude. Tears were even still streaming down Angel's face that I was struck with an overwhelming urge to comfort her like I would Ella. However, I was pretty sure she wouldn't want to be comforted by a stranger. That would just be awkward.

I turned to Zephyr for answers. "Okay, what the _hell_ was that?" I whispered with enough inflections in my voice.

"_Sorry,_" he whispered, still trying to get his breathing in check from all that running. "I'm sorry I ran into you like that but _thank you_. Ange and I wouldn't have kno-"

"No it's fine, really," I cut him off with a wave of my free hand. "I should be asking you guys if you're okay. But do you know what's happening right now?"

Zephyr was suddenly miles away as he stared past my shoulder, mumbling to himself. "Oh God, I have to call my mom. I-I have to-to-" he began fumbling with his phone in his pocket, unable to even unlock his phone properly because his fingers were shaking so badly.

"Hey, snap out of it." I nudged him in the shoulder, trying to get his attention.

"Max," Nudge, who had been silently comforting Angel with an arm around her tiny shoulders, suddenly reprimanded me; giving me a pointed 'don't-be-such-a-bitch' look. I rolled my eyes but nodded.

"Zephyr," I reached out and affectionately squeezed his shoulder, hoping it would help some. Although he was 14 years old and as tall as I was, his demeanor was that of a frightened puppy; and that both made me fear for the both of them, and scare me. "Why were you guys running? What were you running from?" _What was so scary that made two teenagers run? _

He looked back at me at the mention of his name, probably taken aback that I knew it. "There are people. A bunch of people in the school, a-and they brought out guns and started shooting-"

Wait,_ shooting?_

"Zephyr, tell it to me straight. What the hell is going on right now?" I demanded, looking him right in the eyes. It was finally time we knew what was happening in this school, and I had to know just how screwed we all were. Was it a prank gone wrong? A fire?

"I-I don't know. There were these guys in masks and they started shooting the people in our class," he said, squeezing his eyes shut as though he could erase what he'd seen just a few moments ago.

It was no wonder there wasn't any specific siren that rang throughout the school.

We were never taught to prepare for this – a school shootout.

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**Please review!  
**

Oh, and if any of you are interested in making the cover for this story (as I am either too lazy or busy these days), PM or e-mail me :D

.: Tiffany :.


	3. Chapter Two

**I was supposed to** post this earlier, but I came home from camping out with my friends and passed out when I got home.

I didn't get as much reviews as I did from the prologue, so I figured it must've been the first-post hype. :P

However, I'm still very thankful for the feedback. Keep them coming guys! I love to hear what you have to say about this. Especially for this chapter, because you guys might either love me…ooor really hate me for the ending. :-)

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**CHAPTER TWO**

"_I-I don't know. There were these guys in masks and they started shooting the people in our class," Zephyr said, squeezing his eyes shut as though he could erase what he'd seen just a few moments ago. _

"What do you mean they started shooting people? As in, _killing people? _With _guns?_" Nudge cut in, her voice starting to get louder with panic.

"_Shh!_" I put a hand over her mouth and subconsciously crouched lower, even though my blood instantly ran cold.

I was numb all over, hardly able to stop my hands from shaking just like Zephyr's were.

I knew something wrong was going on, just like how anyone has a sixth sense or the feeling of premonition before something awful happens. The weight in my chest felt too heavy for it to be something of a minor incident or maintenance repair gone wrong, but I never imagined a shootout at St. Xavier. Not in a million years.

I knew this school. It was a _private_ school, for Christ's sake. I knew all the guards at the gate by name; and as a senior, I've long since figured out that climbing the gate or the wall to get out of school grounds resulted in a month's detention, a call to your parents, and a major offense. We had to have our IDs with us at all times, and we were only allowed on campus upon scanning them at the entrances.

St. Xavier was practically a preppy jail for those who could afford it; and if there was one thing that our parents made sure of, it was that they were paying enough to make us _stay in_ school.

Security here was tighter that a hipster's skinny jeans, so if these killers were able to get as far as the main building and gun down an entire class without alerting security reinforcements…

Then we were all just walking targets.

"I need you to tell me exactly what you saw. How many men were there? Were they grown men, or were they teenagers? Were they wearing masks? What else can you remember?" I demanded urgently. We'd all somehow found a way to sit or squat in the tiny space of the closet, forming a really tight circle. My right shoulder blade was pressed against the stick of a broom, and I was leaning against a mop bucket on wheels, but my sole focus was on Zephyr.

"Umm… well Angel and I were walking down the hall to get back to class. I was gonna drop her off at hers since mine was a few doors down, but just as we were about to round the corner we saw these men – three men, and they were all huge and wearing black. I could see their faces; I'd say they're kind of old, in their late 20's." Zephyr closed his eyes again, his eyebrows scrunching up in concentration. "Uhh…one of them was shouting, while the other two held guns. He was asking for a location. He kept saying, "Where is it?" over and over. And I guess nobody in the class answered him because they started shooting everyone in the room." He opened his eyes, huge blue eyes brimming with tears. "Machine guns. The guys had machine guns, and they started shooting everyone in Angel's class. And everyone was screaming. A-and Angel did too," he turned to his sister, whose face was still have buried in Nudge's shoulder. "Then they turned to us, and one of the guys with the guns started chasing after me and Ange.

That's how we found you and Monique." His voice broke at the end of his sentence, trying his best to be strong, even if he was only fourteen.

I didn't know Zephyr. Up until today, he'd just been a name that occasionally floated around the rumor mill. A freshman who tried out and got into the soccer team, some fearless kid who let a loud one rip in class just to spite his teacher. I only met him just a few minutes ago, but at that moment I didn't hesitate to drop my phone onto the floor and reach out to hug him; wrapping my arms around him, even if he was just as tall as I was, and comforting him like a mother would.

"Y'know, it's okay to be afraid. What you and your sister did back there was amazing, and I don't think anyone would have been quick or brave enough to think on their toes like you guys did." I drew back a bit to look him in the eye. "And you know what? You also saved the both of us," I told him, referring to me and Nudge.

He gave me a lopsided half-smile.

As I awkwardly shuffled back to my earlier position, Nudge spoke up again. "Max is right. In fact, you guys are lucky you were together before it happened. Where were you guys coming from anyway?"

Silence ensued the moment the words were said, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye how Zephyr slightly tensed at the question. Though I was curious, I knew that it was none of our business. I was just about to change the subject when a fourth voice broke the silence, making me snap my head towards the blonde girl next to Nudge.

"Gazzy and I were coming back from the Guidance Counselor," Angel said, her voice shaky and scratchy from crying. "Family issues," she mumbled with a roll of her eyes, but everyone could tell that she was trying to act unconcerned.

I was about to shift the conversation back to the situation at hand when her words hit me like an 18-wheeler truck, my breath getting stuck in my throat. I suddenly felt so stupid and selfish.

Why hadn't I done anything the moment Zephyr told us what was going on? Why didn't I bother to find them or even try to reach them when I _knew_ something was wrong?

I only cared about myself. I didn't stop long enough to think about anything else that was important besides self-preservation – my family.

"_Ella and Ari,_" I whispered, feeling my heart plummet in my chest, not knowing the fate of my siblings at this very moment.

The others were saying things, but I paid them no attention as I picked up my phone and scrambled to call either of them.

No service.

With fumbling hands and shaking knees; I got to my feet, dusting off my skirt and knees as I did so. I'd turned to the closet door and was just about to twist the knob when a hand pulled me back, almost making me crash into the shelf piled with toilet paper.

"Max, what are you doing?" Nudge hissed in my ear. I assumed she was the one clutching onto my wrist, but I couldn't be too sure in the darkness. The light from my phone on the floor had already gone out.

"I-I have to find my siblings…I have to find Ella and Ari," I mumbled back distractedly, trying to pull my arm back as my other free hand reached out blindly to find the doorknob.

"_Are you crazy?_ There are men _with guns_ out there. You're going to get yourself killed!"

I turned around in my spot, speaking (hopefully) face to face. "Maybe I am. Look, you don't understand. I _have_ to find them. I'll come back but in the meantime, just stay here with them, alright? Just let me _go_." And with one final twist of my arm, I had wrenched free from Nudge's grasp and nimbly slipped out of the closet with a resounding click of the knob.

I was like in a trance, walking slowly in the shadows of the halls and avoiding the circle patches of red light as I lightly skimmed my fingers along the lockers. I wasn't prancing around like a bumbling idiot per se, but I was more concentrated on how to find my siblings more that I was attuned to my surroundings.

There doesn't seem to be any cell service anywhere; and even if I were dumb enough to attempt to page them on the intercom, there doesn't seem to be any electricity either. It would be seriously and quite literally suicidal to check room per room, so I have to narrow it down to the last classes they should have been in before dismissal.

For a moment I was stumped and was tempted to do a face palm, knowing that I didn't memorize either of their schedules, much less both their last periods every Friday. But then it was like a light shined down from the heavens and lit a bulb in my head because then I remembered that I had kept a copy of both their schedules in my locker in case of emergencies.

With a concrete plan in mind, I continued to make my way down the halls, now paying more attention to the hallways so I could find the fastest route to my locker.

The walk seemed longer than I felt it should have been, twisting and turning down different paths all around the main building. In reality, it was probably just because I'd scan every hall I'd pass and wait a few seconds before turning a corner. The sound of my Mary Jane heels on the marble floor were like stomps in my ears, even though I was already tiptoeing; and I was trying not to breathe too much to avoid making so much noise. Reread that sentence and tell me I wasn't the Queen of Paranoia.

My locker was finally in the next hallway, and I internally cursed knowing that it was right smack in the middle of the hall. Lithely, I walked along the lockers until I reached my own. Steadying the lock with my left hand, I spun the dial slowly so I would be able to get it right the first time.

_Six to the left…Fourteen to the right…Five to the left…_

_Click!_

By this time I was pretty sure my blazer was just holding in all my sweat, a dam ready to burst, as I nervously opened my locker door and pulled out the printed schedules I placed on the top shelf, glad that I organized my locker just moments ago.

_Note to self: Pat yourself on the back later._

I was closing my locker as quietly as I could, easing the door shut with the tips of my fingers, when a heart-stopping bangreverberated throughout the halls.

I swear that wasn't me.

Whipping my head right to the sound of the shot, I stared in horror down the end of the hall waiting for the men to come. I could feel the blood rushing in my ears, hands on my locker gripping the schedules. I just stood frozen in that hall, not knowing what I was waiting for. It was like continuing to watch a scary movie, your eyes wide open, even though the cheesy soundtrack before the ghost would appear was already playing in the background. My muscles were tensing, and my heart was hammering in my chest when three more gunshots snapped me out of my stupor and I was sprinting in the opposite direction.

Running blindly like a madwoman hit me with a sense of déjà vu, only this time I was alone. I didn't bother to travel along the shadows as I ran down the middle of the hallways, passing patch after patch of the eerie red lights.

I didn't know where I was going, my fear controlling my movement and direction. I could probably figure out where I was if I stopped to look around; but the thought that those men, those _killers_, were right behind me scared me enough to run as though I were competing in the goddamn Olympics.

Every hallway looked the same, the same blood red lockers on either side of you, the same red lights cast onto the floor. Everything red and black. It was a never-ending maze that was enough to turn me insane.

My heels were starting to kill my feet, and my blazer made it difficult to move it, but those were just minor setbacks that I convinced myself to brush off. I was an athlete, the team captain in our school's volleyball varsity.

The halls were the track during our training and the men were the rest of my teammates that I had to beat, spurring me to pump my legs harder.

I was sure I was already far from the shooters, the sound of gunshots only in my head, but I continued to put as much distance between us for good measure. My hair was slowly coming out of its bun, whipping me in the face, and I was turning a corner blindly when I crashed into something hard.

My last though was, '_God, this was a sucky way to die,_', but before I could pull back and react fast enough to at least shield my eyes with my arms; another pair of arms wrapped around me in an embrace, our bodies fitting perfectly together so that I could bury my face in the crook of his neck.

_Oh sweet Maria…_

"Hey, it's okay. You're okay," he whispered, his mouth right beside my ear. I didn't even realize I was shaking until it dawned on me that he was comforting me, one of his hands stroking the small of my back exactly how he knew I liked it.

_Good Lord, what have I gotten myself into?_

With my hands on his chest, I pushed him back slightly. I already knew what I was going to see when I looked up, but I did anyway, tilting my head back to meet his dark gaze.

I took in his features – the adorable furrow of his eyebrows, the obvious concern in his obsidians eyes, with his mouth set in a straight line and his jaw clenched tight.

"_Fang,_" I breathed, both in relief and dread.

Of course I run into my ex-boyfriend.

* * *

**Let me know what you think.**

.: Tiffany :.

P.S. How are you liking the cover for this story? :) I made it in like, 5 minutes in MS Paint on a whim. Lel.


	4. Chapter Three

**You guys are awesome. **Thank you so much for the reviews!

I try my best to reply to those who leave open-ended reviews such as questions and inquiries about the story, but please don't forget to log on to your account so I can reply. :D

As for the guest who asked why Max plays volleyball: Well why not volleyball? Other stories always make her join track, football or basketball so I wanted to try something a bit different. :) Besides, it's not like she's actually going to play the sport in any of the chapters; it was just something mentioned in passing.

Enjoooy!

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

I focused solely on the task at hand, gently rubbing PVPI onto the wound as I tried my best to ignore the awkward silence. No one said anything or even made any noise to indicate the situation, but I could just _feel_ everyone's eyes on us and I was _this_ close to blowing up.

"Well this isn't awkward at all," Nudge mumbled, followed by a chuckle from Zephyr.

Okay, that did it.

I rounded on our group of six, looking each person in the eye – or at least, what I could see of their face's silhouette cast by my cell phone's lit screen.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," I snapped sarcastically, "So let's try to make the situation _un-awkward_ and get introductions out of the way. I'm Max, this is Fang, Zephyr-"

"Actually, I'd prefer it if you guys called me Gazzy," he piped up with a shy smile, quite intimidated to be surrounded by so many upperclassmen now.

"Okay then, Gazzy, Angel, Nudge, and Iggy," I said, pointing at each person starting from myself and going clockwise in our tiny circle of Found Survivors 2.0 back in the janitor's closet. "And since we're on the topic of awkward situations, let's just get it out in the open that _yes_, Fang was my boyfriend up until about two months ago, so you can stop starring like you've seen a ghost, or perhaps your brother naked in the shower," I said with an edge in my voice, knowing I probably possessed the same deer-caught-in-the-headlights look when _that_ happened to me, and pointedly looking at Angel with her mouth slightly agape. Noticing my narrowed eyes were directed at her, she quickly shut her mouth and began flushing furiously.

I couldn't blame her though.

See, I wasn't exactly Ms. Popularity – that title went to Lissa and her posse. I guess you could say I was known as an honor student or an athlete in this school (but really, sports weren't a big deal here at St. Xavier). The main reason Angel and Gazzy probably knew about me was because my relationship with Fang was sort of a big deal.

Actually, more that sort of a big deal. The fact that we'd been dating since 9th grade kinda branded us as the 'It' couple.

You know the one.

Every high school has that one couple that lasts their entire stay at high school. It's the age-old story where the boy and the girl were best friends since middle school, and they started going out in high school. They were always together, and yet they never run out of things to talk to. They weren't the PDA kind of couple – only holding hands or stealing quick kisses as he'd drop her off at her next class – but they were very sweet together when they were alone. The boy could sleepover at her house and vice versa, but there would be no malice in it. They've stayed up all night together and talked about things – trivial things like crazy theories, and deep things like growing old together. They've won Homecoming, Winter Formal, and Prom King and Queen; and were likely to win it again this year. People were so sure that they were going to get married after college, and it was only appropriate since they were practically an old married couple.

Yeah, Fang and I? We were that couple.

Up until we broke up two and a half months ago.

So, I guess Angel did have a reason to stare.

"Rest your breasts, Max. You guys are somewhat of a legend so give the kid a break," Iggy said with a wave of his good arm. I took the already bloody cloth mixed with PVPI and pressed it hard into his wound.

"_Son of a bitch!_"

"I'd remember who I was talking to if I were you, Iggy," I gave him a saccharine smile before going back to dressing his wound.

James 'Iggy' Griffiths is a senior like me and Fang, and the only two words I could describe him with would be 'pyromaniac' and 'class clown' (well, that's actually three words, but whatever). He mostly hangs out with a different crowd, but he and I share a lot of jokes and stories since we were seatmates in Calculus.

While I'd been going through the halls to get my siblings' schedules from my locker, Fang had run into Iggy a couple of hallways away. By then, Iggy had already been shot by one of the gunmen; and together they went to Iggy's locker – just around the corner from where I bumped into them – to get the first aid kit he keeps in there.

I didn't know whether to be more amused by the fact that he probably gets into so many accidents that he keeps an emergency first aid kit in his locker, or that he was acting so chill about _the bullet sticking out of his shoulder_.

In fact, Iggy seemed pretty damn chipper when he cut in and ruined my moment with Fang back there (not that we were _having_ a moment or anything).

"Fang,_" I breathed, both in relief and dread._

_I stared into his eyes, the same eyes that had me hooked and caught so many years ago. Even if we've both moved on – or were trying to move on – it was hard to ignore what he was saying through his eyes. I was the only person who was able to read him like an open book, and he was the only one who could do the same for me._

_And then-_

"_KISS… KIIISS…"_

"_JESUS CHRIST!" I jerked out of Fang's grip, almost falling on my ass for the _third_ time this afternoon._

"_Actually, it's Iggy," came the voice right behind Fang; and sure enough when I looked past him, I noticed the tall, lanky guy smiling smugly at me. "Hi." He even waved and winked at me, the bastard._

_I had pushed Fang away in alarm, roughly shoving him and tucking my already messy hair behind my ears now that we had company. Somewhere along the way in my panic-induced sprint, I must've lost my hair elastic. _

_I'm surprised it's taken me this long to notice him, given the fact that Iggy often stuck out like a sore thumb. He was like vanilla ice cream – light strawberry blonde hair, alabaster skin, and pale blue eyes. The navy blue blazer and khaki pants of the boy's uniform was a stark contrast to his skin; and if he were standing in a crowd, you could easily identify him as the tall kid with the huge black rimmed glasses. _

"_What are you doing here?" I tried to play it cool, I _really_ did, but with Iggy still smiling at me like I'd done something dirty, it made my face all hot. _

"_Well uhh…this is my locker," He lightly tapped the one on front of him with his fist. "And this is my first aid kit from my locker," He raised his right hand and waved a small white box in the air. "And this is my bleeding arm." He raised his left arm in a shrug, and _holy shit-

"Oh my God, you're bleeding!_" I whisper-shouted and rushed to him, holding him by his bicep to inspect the wound. _

"_And like, err mah ghad, your skirt is like, red! No way, no way!" Iggy said in a valley impersonation three octaves higher than his normal voice, then instantly glared at me in the next second. "You don't fucking say, Max."_

_I would've hit him if he weren't already dripping blood._

"Okay, enough with the pleasantries. Can we get back to oh, I don't know, the fact that there are _mass murderers roaming around school?_" Nudge interjected, bringing me back to the present.

"You were the one who brought up how awkward this whole thing was," Gazzy pointed out, turning to face her.

"Can everyone just _shut up_ so we can think about how we're getting out of here?" Fang demanded. Everyone immediately shut up after that.

"Okay, so how do we go about this?" I began, facing everyone in the dimly-lit circle just as I finished knotting strips of my blazer – now Iggy's makeshift sling – and packing up his first aid kit.

"Well our school has a closed campus and I'm willing to bet all three gates have been taken over by these guys."

"Yeah, and besides, getting out through the gates is like attempting to cross the North Korea-South Korea border with your arms flailing without trying to get shot. It's too public," Nudge supplied, agreeing with Iggy's statement.

"Right. So we have to find the nearest fence or wall around the perimeter of the school, some place behind the closest building we're at so we can jump the fence at a blind spot where no one could see us," Fang finished, connecting the dots.

"Wait, wait." I held up my hands. "We have to think about this logically and take into account that these men are just walking around campus wielding their stupid guns.

"Now think about it – these are big guys, late 20's, probably still living at home with their parents. They're a bunch of grown men acting like bullies who probably didn't get out or date enough in high school." Everyone snickered at this. "And what do they want?" I looked up into everyone's eyes.

"_Money,_" Angel said.

"Exactly." I snapped my fingers. "Gazzy, you said one of them was shouting, "_Where is it?_" And if my assumptions are correct, they're talking about the school's cash. They wouldn't rob a public school, but St. Xavier practically has their hand reaching into our parents' wallets half the time when they're not shoving their rule books down our throat. Sooner or later these dumbasses are going to figure out that the money goes to the Accounting Office in the Admissions building. So somehow, we have to find that blind spot somewhere around the campus walls _whilst _avoiding the Admissions building.

"Now where do you suppose that is?" I summed up. Everyone stared at me.

"_You're a fucking genius,_" Iggy breathed, his eyes wide.

I shrugged, feigning modesty. "I try."

"Well if we combine those two factors, then our best bet…is on the other side of campus," Nudge said, a calculating look in her eyes. "Cause the East and West Buildings are right by the gates, so it's also a given that the east and west fields are too out in the open for an escape."

"Then I guess we'll have to cut through the courtyard," Iggy suggested, and we all whirled on him.

"Uhh, I don't know if you've noticed, Iggy, but the courtyard is _open space_ too. Might as well dance and rave our way through it so we could at least go out with a bang," Gazzy pointed out, then quickly smothered a chuckle as he realized what he just said. Some of us glared at him.

"Too soon?"

"Ya think?"

"But think about it," Iggy continued, suppressing a smile himself. "If we pass the courtyard, we go straight past the cafeteria. That's both far from any of the school gates _and_ the Admissions building."

"And beyond the cafeteria's the auditorium," Fang added, nodding a bit to himself as he mapped it out in his head. "Barely anyone would think to go there, and behind that building past the brick wall leads straight to the forest. From there we could get help. It's perfect." By the end of his statement, he smiled up at all of us – a barely-there smile that was very unlike him.

Here we were, a bunch of random students thrust together given the situation, and we were able to come up with the best possible solution in under five minutes. We barely knew each other – heck, I'd _just_ met Angel and Gazzy about twenty minutes ago – and yet we all made a pretty good team. In fact-

"Am I the only one freaked out that we were finishing each other's thoughts and sentences?" I suddenly voiced, wiping my sweaty and slightly bloody palms on my skirt.

"I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING!" Angel and Nudge whisper-shouted at the same time.

"_SHHH!_"

Gazzy looked at the both of them. "Okay, _now_ I'm freaked out."

"Can we just please get out of here? I'm back up against a broom stick and it's rubbing me the wrong way." Aaand of course that was Iggy.

After that, we'd all decided to exit the cramped and sweaty closet after surveying the hallway for a few minutes. Fang and I were the first ones out, shooting out the door to dissipate the bated air and awkward physical contact.

It was just too awkward and could only be described as awkward that I'd used the word 'awkward' nine times already.

We stood apart just outside the closet door, a good yard's width, and I desperately tried to ignore Fang's gaze on me as the rest shuffled out. Instead, I focused on keeping a lookout down the end of both halls that I didn't even realize the Nudge Channel was turned on.

"-pass by my locker because I have some food in there and I'm sure you're all just as hungry as I am. I mean, it's just going to be a quick detour, _and oh em gee_ we can even pass by the cafeteria and get something! Oh! And I have to get my backpack because my _life_ is in there. I mean, not literally, but you know what I mean…."

I was used to it. I grew up with the kid.

Nudge is a chatterbox; and I have always known this and come to accept it. She could go on and on, talking about herself, or what she saw on the news, or anything really; and it's truly a talent how she never seems to need freakin' air while she continues to ramble. Since she practically lives in our house, I've perfected the art of tuning her babble to a low frequency hum. Even Fang had adapted to Nudge, given that we were practically inseparable not so long ago, and he usually didn't mind conversing with her about their shared interest in video games and cars. We all got along.

I guess I failed to remember that we were in the company of a few strangers.

"-It has my stuff for Biology and everything, and I know it's Friday and all, but Mr. Meyer gave us a long exam at the last minute, that old fart. And oh em gee, my make-up kit's in there too! I mean, I know it's not that important or anything, considering the circumstances, but I just bought this-"

"_HOLY SHIT MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!_" Iggy whisper-shouted, tackling her and successfully clamping a hand over her mouth. I looked around to see that, while Angel was trying not to let it show, the Astor twins were starting to look a bit irritated as well. Nudge wasn't a hard person to love, but she definitely takes some getting used it.

"Okay, I think we should go this way," I butted in and pointing to the right, changing the topic so we could get a move on.

"Sorry," Nudge mumbled meekly once Iggy removed his hand; staring up at him with huge, terrified eyes. I would've thought that Iggy was mad at her too before he surprisingly smiled at her, a huge grin from ear to ear, and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"No harm done. I guess that's why your nickname's Nudge, huh?" He elbowed her jokingly. "But please, I'm already practically blind. Don't make me go deaf too," he said before striding in the direction I pointed. The rest of the kids began to follow Iggy, Nudge offendedly scoffing before going along too; and I stayed behind to scan the closet one last time for anything left behind. Just as I whirled around to close the door, I almost bumped into Fang.

"_For crap's sake_, Fang_,_" I breathed, glaring at him. "What do you want?" I'd forgotten he'd been standing there this whole time, half a silhouette in the barely-lit halls. But even in the darkness I could see the amused smirk on his face as he stared down at me, arms crossed over his chest.

"Forget something?"

_Where was he getting at… _"No, I've got my phone and my wallet. What are you-"

Then suddenly Fang's gaze travels down to my blouse – specifically my chest – and he raises an eyebrow, before looking into my eyes again. "Well I'd say, 'Black looks good on you,' but you and I already know that."

_Forget what I mentioned about teamwork and getting along-_

I looked down at myself and swore rather loudly.

_-because we'd probably kill each other first._

* * *

**Okay, admittedly not my best, but I can't find it in me to change anything to smoothen out the rough edges. **

Anyway, we meet Fang and Iggy! What are your thoughts on the flock finally getting together? And what do you think of the story so far? Let me know!

.: Tiffany :.


	5. Chapter Four

**Advanced Happy Mothers' Day** to all your moms and soon-to-be moms (?)! It's already Sunday here but well, I'm from a different time... (wew)

Sorry that this is the shortest chapter so far, but the next one's extremely long. Let's just get right to it!

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

…_Just as I whirled around to close the door, I almost bumped into Fang._

"_For _crap's sake, _Fang," I breathed, glaring at him. "What do you want?" I'd forgotten he'd been standing there this whole time, half a silhouette in the barely-lit halls. But even in the darkness I could see the amused smirk on his face as he stared down at me, arms crossed over his chest._

"_Forget something?" _

_Where was he getting at… "No, I've got my phone and my wallet. What are you-"_

_Then suddenly Fang's gaze travels down to my blouse – specifically my chest – and he raises an eyebrow, before looking into my eyes again. "Well I'd say, 'Black looks good on you,' but you and I already know that." _

Forget what I mentioned about teamwork and getting along-

_I looked down at myself and swore rather loudly._

-because we'd probably kill each other first.

**- - - - -O- - - - -**

See, girls were required to wear a white tank top to go underneath our white polo. It's that and a whole shebang of other dress code policies that put the cherry on top of St. Xavier's suffocating school rules.

I wasn't _not_ wearing a tank top to make some sort of statement though. Over the last few days, I just haven't been wearing one because it was just too much of a hassle to go through my Mount Everest-sized laundry pile and find a decent white tank top. It was hard enough to find a pair of matching socks in all my shit. I don't see why anyone should expect me to go through the trouble.

So yeah, I guess that's how I got in my predicament – with my lacey black bra now exposed for our little ragtag team and the rest of St. Xavier to see.

Iggy was currently using my ripped up blazer; and with all the electricity shut off, it was far too hot to be wearing one anyway. Nudge and Angel were probably sponges by now, sealing in all that sweat. The stuffy janitor's closet didn't help our situation; and if being practically pressed up against your ex in the dark wasn't excuse enough to sweat bullets, I don't know what is.

Everyone had turned around from the commotion; and even if our only source of light were the red emergency lights, my bra against the slightly soaked white blouse _ala_ wet t-shirt contest was undeniable. Now Iggy kept smiling all nasty (_ew_); and Gazzy's cheeks were tinted red. God, I didn't even want to look at Fang.

I sighed loudly. "It's called a _bra_, guys. What do you think held up our boobs? Coconuts?" Now I'm pretty sure Gazzy's entire face was fire truck red, and Iggy was silent crying hysterically. Stalking past all of them and trying not to let my bravado crumble, I started leading the way with my head held high.

Thank God I didn't decide to wear one of my neon or printed bras. I think I'd just _die_.

A few minutes passed as I continued to walk ahead and call the shots, while the rest trailed behind and talked in hushed voices. At one point, Iggy started humming the Mission Impossible theme song and walked around with his hands clasped together like a gun, unnecessarily pressing against the lockers and comically rubbing his back against mine (to which I shoved him off). He'd even done a pathetic one-handed cartwheel after we rounded a corner upon my go signal, and the others were trying their best to smother their laughter. It's was _really_ annoying, but I'll admit, even I cracked a smile.

"Where did you find this dork anyway?" I asked Fang, knowing that he was right beside me as we both watched Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel pretend to be spies.

"Dr. Dwyer said I could leave early, and I ran into him just as he came running in West. He told me he was skipping class, hanging out by the benches, when he got shot and ran as fast as he could into the building," Fang said without looking back at me either.

Fang was the Junior year's teacher's assistant for Chemistry. Little known fact about him is that he's really good at Science and breezed through all the Science subjects in a snap. He was also quite the 'dreamboat', telling me all about the giggling juniors; the shy, eyelash-batting glances; and the blatantly obvious, horrifically cringe-worthy flirting attempts throughout the class periods. Even Brigid let-me-wave-around-my-PhD Dwyer had a tiny crush on Fang, acting all touchy-feely with him. Fang would always tell me these stories, and we'd laugh about it together.

Permission to leave early didn't come as a surprise to me, especially since Fang was Dr. Dwyer's _absolute _favorite, but I never would've guessed Iggy was the type of guy who skipped class.

He was rambunctious and loud in class, always telling jokes and making side comments. He pulled pranks at times and made it on every teacher's hit list, but he was definitely not a 'bad boy'. Staring after the tall and lanky kid, who was currently sticking his ass out with his knees bent, spinning around with his 'gun', I couldn't put the two together.

Then again, I didn't really know the guy.

"About earlier…" Fang suddenly brought up, the both of us still trailing behind the others leisurely as though we were walking through the park.

"Are you apologizing?" I turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

"No," he scoffed. Figures. Fang never apologizes – a quality we both shared. "It's just fun to tease you." He smiled at me, the half-smile he gives when he really means it, and I allowed myself to laugh.

We continued walking in silence, now less tense than earlier; both of us lost in our own thoughts. I was thinking about my siblings again when I felt a hand grab mine, intertwining our fingers in its perfect fit.

I pulled my hand away immediately.

"_Fang,_" I said in warning, looking up at him with a glare. Just as quickly as we relaxed, we were both instantly walking on eggshells again.

He sighed in frustration, rolling his eyes as he shoved his hands back in his pockets. "C'mon, Max. It's been two months. Can't we at least talk?"

_No._

"So talk, but don't hold my hand."

"I was just making sure you wouldn't run away."

That did it.

I whirled on him, abruptly stopping to jab my finger on his chest. "If there's anyone running away from this relationship it's _you_," I said through clenched teeth.

"You broke up with me," he said slowly, narrowing his eyes.

"_Because you gave me a reason to, jackass!_" I almost shouted, shoving him hard in the chest. Predicting how I'd react, he'd raised his hands to grab my wrists; and we both stumbled backwards from the force, tripping over our own feet.

No, we did _not_ fall into a tangled pile of limbs with me pressed against him, our chests heaving and our noses touching as we stared into each other eyes or something cheesy along those lines.

Instead, we'd been conveniently standing beside a classroom door and crashed none too gracefully into the room. We would've just staggered until we could right ourselves, but we both ended up slipping on something wet on the floor, causing the both of us to fall.

I was on my hands and knees, my mind working at a snail's pace, when the smell hit me first – the metallic, pungent scent filling my senses. My joints ached and I felt like my brain shook in my skull. My hair fell into my eyes, tickling my face, but I was far more concentrated on the sea of red in front of me to do anything else.

I was seeing red. _Literally._

In a panic, my head whipped left and right, and the only reason I didn't scream was because I was far too choked up, gasping for air as my blurry eyes made out all the people, the _bodies_, strewn across the desks and floor in a pool of their own blood.

My mind was screaming for me to look away, but the faces of Justine Marzicola lying face down a few feet away from me, Mattie Charlson slumped on his desk with a bullet through his forehead, and Chelsea Wendling's blood sprayed across the wall from the angle of the gunshot were faces I'd been looking and talking to just a few minutes ago.

I didn't need to look, but still I raised my head from my position on the floor and gazed up at the lesson on the Aztecs, the lecture I'd run out on. This period that I'd asked to be excused from out of boredom.

My class that I should've been in had I not asked to leave.

If I'd stayed and endured Mr. Wright's lecture, I knew I would be seated on my assigned seat on the fourth column in the third row. I would've probably been doodling in my notebook like every other person in this room; or passing notes with my best friend JJ, even if she was seated right next to me.

I would be dead by now.

Suddenly, I couldn't see through my tears, but I was thankful for the temporary blindness. Quickly scrambling back on my hands and knees, my chest constricted as my heart squeezed and my lungs filled with enough air to _scream-_

And as quickly as we'd fallen into the room, an arm encircled my waist from behind and a hand covered my mouth, hauling me off the floor and out of my classroom before I could even blink. I hadn't even righted myself on my feet before Fang let go of me and instead grabbed my hand, intertwined our finger like he had earlier, and ran down the hallway with me.

There was no comfort, no whispered reassurances like I knew him for. We could only run, and call the others, and continue running; the harsh reality that we could be next finally catching up to us.

* * *

***gasps***

Now let's have a survey: Honestly, are you more concerned about Max and Fang's break-up or the fact that Max's entire History class is dead?

Tell me all your comments, suggestions and concrit in a review!

.: Tiffany :.

P.S. AJ, it's your turn. ;)


	6. Chapter Five

**Uuugh.** I go back to school this coming Wednesday (May 21). -_- 2nd year of college, here I come. (Note the fake enthusiasm.)

And why yes, I started and ended my summer vacation before most of you have even started yours. This whole unorthodox school year in my university (basically five weeks of summer vacation) really sucks.

On another amusing and quite exciting note, my friend _americanbread_, who I met here on Fanfiction, is going to the same university that I attend. How cool is that?

Lastly: one anonymous reader asked **if/when I'll update **_**Secrets and Lies**_. And I've been meaning to address this to any _S&L_ readers out there.

First of all, omg an S&L reader! :O How awesome! (For those of you who don't know, _Secrets and Lies_ is my chapter story about Max getting her expiration date, then getting kicked out of the flock, etc. Go check it out! :P) I'm so glad you like it!

As for my next update, I'm really trying to finish writing the whole story before I put up the next chapter, so that updates would be more frequent (and not like, every 5 months or something). Not only am I trying to tie up loose ends, but I also want to get the reactions and emotions _just_ right. It's this really long process of writing, editing, re-writing and re-editing; and to be honest, it's a little bit draining to be writing about the same thing for over four years (holy sh*t son). One chapter for _S&L_ is equivalent to like, seven chapter of _Gunshot Silence_ so you can only imagine all the writing that's left to be done. However, my progress for that story is around 20% finished; and I promise (just like I've promised every year) I'm going to finish that story.

Thank you for addressing this concern, and for caring about that story! It's like, my Fanfiction baby. So sorry for the long wait, but I hope you stick around for the ending!

Weeew. That was longer than I intended it to be. Anyway, I should get right on it. Here's an extra long chapter for you guys! (**Rated T** for swearing)

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE**

_There was no comfort, no whispered reassurances like I knew him for. We could only run, and call the others, and continue running; the harsh reality that we could be next finally catching up to us._

With Fang leading the way, I followed aimlessly with my hand still in his. I could hardly recognize where we were, my eyes blurred with tears and my mind screaming incoherencies. I was stumbling around in my heels like a drunken idiot, hating myself for feeling so frail and hating myself even more for feeling _relieved_. Together we sprinted down hallway upon hallway, six pairs of footsteps ridiculously loud in the empty halls until Fang called out to the others "_In here!_" and we all rushed in through a set of double doors held open by Fang and Iggy.

The moment we all entered the new room and the doors were sealed shut, I hardly allowed myself to breathe before I pressed the heels of my hands hard into my eye sockets and began pacing, trying to get the image of what I'd just seen out of my mind. My heart was pounding in my chest and I felt like I needed to throw up, but I couldn't freak out now. Not when so much of the plan was riding on everyone keeping their cool. Running my hands over my face, I blinked back the tears as best as I could.

_Calm down, Max. You're going to be okay. You're _alive_; selfish but alive. Ella and Ari need you to be alive when you come to find them. Don't think about what you just saw. Don't think about your classmates; don't think about JJ. Suck it up. Just calm down. _

_J__ust_ breathe.

The tears still kept coming, but with everything jumbling in my head – the shooters, Fang, my siblings, my dead classmates – it was easier to compartmentalize my thoughts as I pushed them back. I don't think I could ever unsee what I saw. I'd memorized everything and that would be forever imprinted in my mind, but I had to focus. I had to think about what needs to be done and what I could still do.

The red emergency lights were interspersed much farther in this room, blanketing the place in darkness, which left everyone to depend on the backlight screen of their phones. I could tell the others were just watching, unaware of what transpired and unsure of what to do with me. I expected something along the lines of, "What happened Max?" or "What's wrong?" but I heard none of it; nothing but the sound of muffled shuffling, and I was thankful they didn't pry.

Just as I unclenched my jaw and began to relax, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and I froze. Whipping my head up to glare at the person and his attempts to comfort me, I found myself looking up at the half-lit face of Fang – Fang, known to all as the emotionless brick wall here at St. Xavier. Fang, my ex-best friend, whose eyes were unmistakably red-rimmed and bloodshot with unshed tears.

The last time I'd seen Fang cry was when we were eight years old, and he scrapped his shin deep from the jagged end of a bench at the park. And even then, when he had even reason to cry from the pain and the horror of all that blood dripping down his leg, his sobs were quick to turn into hiccups as I tied my (very convenient) bandana around his wound and helped him walk home.

He still wasn't crying now, but I could tell he was trying hard not to.

My eyes softened and I instantly leaned into him, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my face in his chest. His wiry arms were instantly around my shoulders, crushing me to him, and he sighed for the both of us.

I hated to admit it, but we were still each other's comfort.

"Umm guys?" Iggy's voice broke through my reverie, and I was wary as I lifted my head to look up at the other boy. "We've got company."

At that, I stilled in Fang's arms.

"_Jesus_, don't say it like that!" Nudge came from around the corner of a bookshelf with her phone's light pointed directly at us. Unconsciously smacking Iggy on his hurt arm, I watched as he tried to mask the obvious wince seen on his face. _Ouch. _She then turned to the rest of us, smiling. "We found other people in the back. Come on."

Stiffly pulling away from Fang and looking straight ahead, I took a deep breath and followed Nudge through the shelves. Belatedly, I realized that we had run into the huge two-story library between the East and West Buildings, one of the few buildings that connected the two wings besides the outdoor corridors. Discretely wiping my eyes on the back of my hands while passing through the shadows of the bookshelves, we only took two turns weaving through the rows before we came across another group of students – ones that made me think running in the _opposite_ direction of the library was starting to sound like a good idea.

Eyes narrowed, scowl set, I made the motion of a gun with my fingers and pretended to shoot the person closest to me – which so happens to be the school's head cheerleader.

"_Bang._ You're dead. If we could easily find you in this library, who's to say they won't?" I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms over my chest as I stared down at all of them.

I couldn't believe them. Here they were; seated on the floor in the back corner of the room listening to music, playing games on their iPods, and braiding each other's hair while they were only a few strides away from either exit; a few strides away from _death,_ should the gunmen decide to pay a visit to the library.

I couldn't believe they were just sitting here while the rest of the school was getting painted in blood.

"Pot calling the kettle black, Max, but if you thought using the library as a hideout would save you too, who's to say you're a genius?" the person I 'shot' stood from her spot on the carpeted floor, the light from her phone on the floor contouring the glare on her face.

No, I wasn't stereotyping all cheerleaders as dumb bitches; I was actually good friend with a few on the team. It was just this chick and her gullible sidekick who made every other girls' lives here in St. Xavier a living hell – or at least those who weren't her friends and those who didn't cower and bow down to her aura of superiority. Clearly I didn't fall under either category.

I gave her a saccharine smile. "Oh hold the flattery, Star. I never said I was a genius but I'm nowhere near as stupid as you are. In fact, I didn't even know you knew the meaning of that idiom! Let's all give Star a round of applause!"

I didn't even have time to blink before Star (Who the hell even names their kid 'Star'?!) attempted to priss slap me or claw my eyes out with her perfectly manicured nails; only to be held back by the said gullible sidekick, Kate Lu.

Now I actually liked Kate. She was sweet when she wasn't attached at the hip to Star; and she was really pretty, with her flawless skin and her silky long black hair. But like I said, she was Star's best friend, and that was her besetting flaw.

I had to admit Star's quick reflexes could've clipped me, and Kate was pretty strong to be able to restrain 110 pounds of short-tempered rage. I and the others who stood beside me just watched in both shock and amusement.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." A third person from their group of five stood up, pulling his headphones down in the process and putting his hands up in the universal 'hold up' sign. Everyone turned their phones in his direction. "Calm down, ladies. There's enough room for all of us to chill here, and there's enough Ratchet to go around," he said, grinning at us and landing his eyes particularly on my chest. I shot him the bird.

Okay, I think I speak for all of us when I say we felt violated with the way he looked at our group.

Ratchet was that cliché asshole in every movie and book, who thought he was the shit or that everyone gave a damn about what he did. He's the guy who wears sunglasses during class hours, wore a leather jacket instead of the school blazer, and wore his headphones like it was a part of him. Tall and muscular, he looked like any other 'stupid jock' with a perpetual sleazy grin on his face; except he wasn't a 'jock', so that just left him with 'stupid'.

I wasn't the only one who shared those sentiments.

"Stand back, everyone! His herpes might be contagious!" Iggy exclaimed, striding forward and holding his arms out to protect the rest of us. We all chuckled at his antics as Iggy continued with the charade, bouncing on his toes and keeping an eye on Ratchet like he was some kind of maniac. (Well actually, he kinda was.)

This, of course, made Ratchet pissed; making this 'Max vs. Star' battle a 'Max & Iggy vs. Star & Ratchet' tag team duel.

"Wait, can we all just stop and talk this out?"

Some kid I didn't know picked himself up off the floor and dusted his khaki pants, coming up behind Ratchet and trying to dissipate the tension. He was gangly and awkward, his most prominent features his freckles. I assumed he was a freshman since he barely fitted into his uniform, though I admired him for taking action against a group of seniors. This kid had balls.

"Fuck off, Starfish," Ratchet spat.

"Your name is _Starfish_?" Nudge questions skeptically, voicing out my exact thoughts.

"No, the kid's right, Ratchet," Fang intervened, coming forward to get between both opposing groups. I didn't know how he could pull it off, but there was something authoritative about Fang that got everyone to listen. "Can everyone just calm down so we can talk about this like grown-ups?"

"He's right." The last person from their group finally spoke up; and I didn't even restrain myself from rolling my eyes, recognizing her voice. "Everyone's acting like children; it's pathetic."

I scoffed, drawing everyone's attention. "That's rich, coming from you."

"Well I wasn't referring to you, Max, but it seems you're affected by my words. Finally realized how pathetic you are?" she said, faking innocence, but anyone could pick out the hard edge in her voice.

"If I'm not mistaken, at least I wasn't the one groveling for a guy that would _never_ reciprocate my feelings." Narrowing my eyes, I stepped forward into the light until I came face to face with her. "But it's okay, Maya. You don't have to hide how much of a lowlife you are. Everyone already knows you're a fucking cunt."

**- - - - -O- - - - -**

I love how history was repeating itself.

First I run into my ex-boyfriend, and now my ex-best friend! What will life throw at me next! (Note the sarcasm.)

As we finally moved to a less conspicuous location hidden behind a bank of computers on the far right side of the room, settled down into a disfigured, disjointed circle with an obvious space between our two groups, and managed not to tackle or wring anyone's neck in either of the process; we sat in a tangible silence that could be sliced with a butcher's knife. With all our phones locked or in our pockets to conserve battery, we relied on the pool of red light that shone directly above us. An appropriate setting, if I do say so myself.

From across the circle, I could feel Maya glaring daggers at me for getting the last say. Now I wasn't normally petty enough to add fuel to the fire; I didn't normally get into fights since I was more of a private, keep-to-myself type of person, but since this was _Maya _we were talking about, of course I glared right back.

Barely did we cross paths in school. I've had a few classes with her since our falling out in freshman year – it was inevitable – but she stayed out of my way (as she should), and I was lucky I didn't have anything to do with her when it came to projects and group works. She was on the cheer squad (which made it easier to hate her more) and I was on the volleyball varsity. And the only thing we could agree on was to look the other way or pretend the other wasn't there if we did run into each other in the halls.

She looked the same as I remembered in middle school, except she was past the stage of awkward haircuts and braces. A lot of people have actually said we looked quite alike back when we were still friends; but neither of us saw it and the only similarities we shared were our wavy blonde hair, hers a few inches shorter than mine and now dyed with a streak of magenta; and the color of our eyes, with mine a few shades darker. I guess it's because the three of us hung out all the time – me, Maya and Fang – that people were convinced Maya and I looked the same because we shared the same qualities.

Fang always swore he would get grey hairs at a young age if he continued to hang out with the both of us. Maya and I had the same tenacity and stubbornness, both determined to get what we want. Sure, we had our differences too. She had always been more sociable, and I was better when it came to academics; but the similarities outweighed the differences. We didn't care about clothes and fashion, and we both had a thing against obnoxious authority. We enjoyed nature and the environment, camping out frequently when we were in middle school; and our defense was always sarcasm, in any situation.

What was once an amusing and exciting fact is now something I resented. I hate how we were so alike, and it sometimes made me wonder why Fang chose me instead of her.

"O-kaaay, since Max and Maya are doing a fantastic job of cutting the tension with their laser eyes, let's just get down to the bare bones and figure out a compromise, capiche?" Iggy spoke up, rubbing his hands together and trying to make everyone less hostile.

"And we're going to compromise with you, why?" Star said, arrogantly; looking at Iggy like he was dirt beneath her heels, the way she looked at everyone else.

I slammed my palm on the floor, causing everyone to jump in their seats. I was being an extreme bitch right now, more than I naturally was, but stick me in a room with _Star, Ratchet and Maya?_ Seriously, we're all lucky we're still unscathed. Now if Dylan Gunther-freakin'-Hagen was added to this mix, I would've gotten the heaviest book in the library and dropped it onto my head just to save myself from misery.

"Listen, you dimwit," I spat, "You can either go back to your glaringly obvious spot near the doors and wait with your arms wide open for any of the _shooters_ to come and hit you right between the eyes; or you can just agree, and shut up, and _listen_ to the goddamn plan if you wanna live another day or so help me Jesus I will throw you out into the open field myself."

Star was quick to nod after that. In fact, everyone was staring at me in horror like I grew a second head. I must've said something wrong.

"Wait, what do you mean 'shooters'? As in, men with _guns? On campus?_" Kate questioned quietly after my outburst, a furrow in her eyebrows as she looked at each of us.

For a second I was tempted to reply, "_No, shooters, as in men with cameras – here to take our pictures,_" but I didn't 100% hate Kate so that's something.

"You mean you don't know what's happening?" Gazzy asked, the first time I've heard him talk since we got here.

"We've had our guesses, but we never thought…"

"Dude, I thought the school had some spontaneous general assembly or something since no one was around the hallways during dismissal," Ratchet said, scratching the back of his head.

I looked towards the ceiling, praying for patience; just as I saw Angel do a not-so discreet facepalm and Iggy rolling his eyes.

"I'm surprised you lasted this long, Ratchet." I gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up.

"I'm surprised he knows the meaning of 'spontaneous'," Fang said to himself; and Angel, Gazzy and I, who were seated near his vicinity, choked back our laughter.

"Well _anyway_," Nudge gave the four of us a pointed look, "That's what's been happening in school. I don't know why you thought they'd hold a general assembly with no _electricity_," Cue Angel trying to stifle her giggles. "Or cell service, but yeah, men with guns have been roaming around St. Xavier looking for something – we all suspect it's the school funds – and the thing is, we don't know how many there are."

The six of them suddenly had varying expressions on their faces. Star began sobbing uncontrollably, making the rest of us uncomfortable. Kate was quick to rush to her aid (_of freakin' course_), crouching beside her and smoothing down her hair as a best friend should; while Holden (we finally got his real name) subconsciously bit into his thumbnail, his green eyes glistening.

So they hadn't known.

We all just kind of stared at them, subtly putting more distance between our two groups as we watched them freak out. I couldn't really empathize with what they were going through, having found out that they were in the middle of a school shootout since the rest of us figured it out in our own different ways. I wish I cared more for them, but I couldn't bring myself to. Maybe we should've broke the news with more sensitivity, but at this point I was trying not to feel anything and I couldn't concern myself with other people's feelings as I was more keen on the ticking of the clock. I think we all were.

Every second was time wasted. Every second could mean someone getting shot, someone bleeding to death. There was not a lot of time to stop and feel sorry for ourselves.

"So…what do we do now?" Holden asked in a small voice, pausing mid-bite to look up at us.

Iggy straightened up from leaning against the side of a bookshelf, pushing up his glasses in the process. "Now, we get out of campus."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold the fucking phone, Sherlock Holmes," Ratchet spat, glaring at Iggy. "You got it all figured out, but I think you're forgetting that fact that, oh I don't know, _you might get caught and get your brains blown out?_ Ever thought of that?" The look on his face was condescending, and I really wondered how he'd gone through most of his life in one piece.

"Well thanks, Captain Obvious! No, I never thought of the fact that men _with guns_ might _shoot_ us, but thanks for the forewarning and I'll keep that in mind!" Iggy challenged, scowling.

Nudge, ever the pacifist, crawled to the center of the circle and looked at everyone. "Look, we don't have a lot of options. Either we wait it out here for God knows how long and keep our fingers crossed that none of them decide to check out the library while the rest of our schoolmates die; _or_ we can actually do something and navigate campus where we have more leverage, get out of school grounds, and get help for the people trapped in school.

"Yes, walking around school gives them a chance to kill us, but there are more places to hide all throughout St. Xavier as compared to the library; and I'd rather be of use instead of staying here like a sitting duck."

"Babe, you're way in over your head," Ratchet said, reaching out to touch her waist but moving his hand too far south. Some innate protective instinct shot through me as I got up from my seat, but Nudge was quick to react and slapped his hand away.

"You grab me like that again and I guarantee I will kick you in the groin," she growled. I was so proud of her.

"Ratchet's right though. What you're doing is noble, I get it, but there's a fine line between being bold and being stupid. There's no need for the hero complex." Kate tried to dissipate the tension, her eyes shining as she looked at the six of us with hope that we could see reason. A reply was already on the tip of my tongue but Angel beat me to it.

"Well then we'd rather die as heroes than cowards," she said, barely above a whisper; but we'd all heard it, and it probably the most poetic thing I'd ever head a 14-year old say. I hadn't even heard her speak since the janitor's closet, and I was guessing her silence was the way she dealt with shock.

The air stilled for a moment, Angel's words sinking in and everyone's gazes shifting from one another, to the floor, to our surroundings, then back; each person mentally deciding what to do. Mine was a no-brainer, so I dusted my skirt and cleared my throat, itching to get out of here. We wasted enough time.

"Well I'd say it was nice running into you, but it wasn't," I said with finality, heading over for the bookshelves where we'd passed through. I knew that was a little harsh, but to be honest I cared more for the five others I'd become friends with than these people we found in the library. In addition, I had other priorities. I didn't want to stop and think; I wanted us to survive.

The rest of our little gang started to get up and follow, with Iggy and Nudge trailing last.

"Star?" Nudge tried one last time, asking without words if she was willing to come along. She shook her head no, still crying into her hands.

"Holden?"

Anyone could tell he was at a crossroads, but a decision was made when he looked down at his lap. "It's easier to hide than to run."

"…Maya?" Nudge turned towards her, who was now standing against one of the bookshelves with her arms crossed over her chest.

Even if I hated her, I wouldn't forbid her from coming with us if she chose to. We all turned to look at her just as she shot Nudge a sarcastic scowl. "Any of Max's ideas is a bad idea."

I pushed forward to yell at her, but Iggy beat me to the punch.

"Y'know, it's amazing how much pride and arrogance you have, considering it was your fault you and Max stopped being friends." He easily jumped to my defense. I was inclined to tell him to butt out, but the story of my feud with Maya had always been public and known to the entire grade. "And are you really letting something from the past decide on whether or not you would come with us, just because you'll be stuck with Max?"

Before she was able to retort something back, I guess now would be a good time to let them know of my own plans. It was not the best time, but it may be a deciding factor for Maya.

"Actually…" I interrupted sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck. "I'm not going with you guys."

"_WHAT?_" Everybody in the library shouted in varying tones.

"_SHHH!_ For the love of all that is holy, keep your voices down!" I hissed, glancing towards the doors from in between some bookshelves out of paranoia. "Look, after we leave the library, you guys should be going straight to the courtyard like we planned," I said, then turned to address Maya. "And Maya, if it's me that's stopping you from going with them, then you don't even have to worry. I'll be going East."

"Why?" Angel asked.

"I told you guys," I looked around at the five of them as we gathered in a loose circle, a plea in my eyes. "I have to find my siblings."

To prove my point, I reached into my pocket and brought out a printed copy of Ari and Ella's schedules, the ones I'd retrieved from my locker right before I ran into Fang and Iggy. "I ran into you guys after coming from my locker," I explained, looking towards them. "I had to get their schedules to know where their classes were. I have to know they're okay."

"Max, you're _insane_," Fang said, narrowing his eyes at me.

"That's what I kept trying to tell you, Fang," another voice not from within our little circle commented, and my eyes blazed with recognition. Shoving past Gazzy and Nudge, I came to stand a few feet in front of Maya, glaring death at that smug look on her face.

I couldn't believe she had the audacity to even attempt to make fun of me, as if she weren't the one who'd made the mistake three years ago that ruined our friendship. She never took back her words, never tried to explain, never even _apologized_ for what she did to both me and Fang; and now she was acting all high and mighty like she could do no wrong.

See, Fang realized that he liked me towards the end of eighth grade. This was before puberty did good to him, before he got into the basketball team, and before he had the physique and looks that he did now. He was skinny and awkward, my very best friend, and he was determined to make me 'realize my feelings for him'. Although Fang practically had it in the bag since I had liked him back; lopsided grin, long unruly hair and all; he thought to ask Maya – our mutual best friend – for help.

It all seems so juvenile now I think about it; how Maya would tell Fang that I didn't think he was cute, and then confess to me that Fang said I wasn't his type. It went on like that for a while, with Maya pushing our friendship further and further away, until eventually Fang approached me about it himself. I could still remember that day by my locker, when he told me he was willing to be the guy I was waiting for. My 13-year old self was blushing like mad, at a loss for words, until I finally found just the right sappy line to tell him that I was just waiting for him to say that.

We found out that Maya had a crush on Fang too, and was trying to stop us from getting together. I understand what made her do it – I'll admit, I wouldn't know what to do with heartbreak at 13-years old – but I would have done things differently.

She said harsh and cruel things about the both of us, and spread nasty rumors just to back up her statements. I didn't even know how someone that young could be such a mega bitch. I remember eighth grade being very dramatic for the three of us. It's not so much that I was angry with her for doing the things she did; but I was more upset about the fact that the day I confronted her; all she did was look at me with a raised eyebrow, scoffed like what I had said didn't make sense, and said hautily, "So?" Like she didn't just talk shit about me for weeks.

Like she didn't care she was just throwing away six years of friendship over jealousy.

It hurt more than I care to admit, seeing that this whole ordeal didn't bother her as much as it bothered me. For the longest time, I wondered what our friendship even meant to her, wondering if I ever did anything wrong to deserve this; until finally I realized she wasn't worth my time.

That hatred festered. Not only did it hurt back then; but she _still _continued to hit on Fang while we were together, in cleverly indirect ways. Fang had always been either completely oblivious or impassive to her passes, but JJ and all my other friends could see it too. It was one thing for Maya to try to keep us from getting together, but it was another thing entirely that she continued to try to steal a taken man.

My relationship with Fang was important to me. Eighth grade puppy love isn't a big deal, but it was to me. It wasn't just some story that you could brush off your shoulders, some fling that you would laugh about in the future. Everyone knew about what happened with Maya, and everyone knew this wasn't just some pre-teen romance that lasts for days. And if I had believed Maya back then, she would've ruined it all. I would have never dated Fang Ride.

They knew it was real love. And even though Fang and I were broken up now, I could still confidently say that Fang was the best thing that's ever happened to me.

And here she was now, batting her eyelashes at Fang just because she didn't get over her stupid eighth grade crush on him.

And she calls me pathetic.

"_Fuck you_, Maya. You're a real piece of work, y'know that?" I spat, looking her up and down with disgust. "Nobody cares about you, just like how nobody cared three years ago, so fuck off before I blow a hole right through your face and send you right back to hell where you came from."

Her eyes flashed with anger before she scoffed. "_Ha!_ I dare you."

I was _this_ close to giving her customized plastic surgery myself, lifting my fist up to sock her after all these years, but a warm hand on my wrist and a tug on my waist pulled me back before I could punch her. Dammit.

Twisting in the person's grip, I looked up into Fang's eyes as he tried to get me to calm down.

"Max, this isn't about her. This is about you," he said to me, barely above a whisper. "What the hell are you thinking?"

At first I thought he was referring to my face-off with Maya, and I was outraged that he would defend her; but then I realized that he was talking about my plans to go after Ella and Ari. I steeled myself.

"I'm _thinking_ about my little brother and sister. It's easy for you to say; you're an only child, but this is Ella and Ari we're talking about," I whispered in reply. "Fang, you know how much they mean to me. You know why I _have_ to do this."

I looked up at him through my eyelashes, begging that he would understand. He knew this was more than just the protective instinct of a big sister. He knew I had promises to keep.

We stared each other down, his dark eyes never wavering from mine. I even raised an eyebrow, challenging him if he was really willing to test just how stubborn I could be, before he sighed.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you."

My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and I took a step back. "Oh no. No, no, no. I fly solo-"

"Well then you're going to have to get used to company because we're coming too," Nudge stepped up, having heard the entire argument, and in unison the whole gang started nodding and smiling at me like we were in some really bad kid TV series that taught values about teamwork and friendship and stuff.

"_What?_ No! No way, guys. Don't be stupid. I never said anything about any of you tagging along," I said fervently, and from my peripheral I could see Ratchet and the others watching with interest and amusement. We might as well be a cheesy TV series.

"Well you never said anything about ditching us either," Gazzy added, looking peeved. I couldn't believe a freakin' _freshman_ was challenging my authority.

"Well I said _no_ and that's final."

"Say 'no' all you want, Max, but you can't stop us from following you," Iggy said smugly.

"What does it even matter that I go separately? You'll have each other! And from what we know, the shooters are still roaming around the classrooms. It's not safe," I weakly tried to argue.

"Exactly! Which is why you need back-up." Nudge.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"You're right, we don't. But let us help you, Max." And now Angel. Oh God, they were finishing each other's thoughts.

"_Why?_ Why are you helping me?" I exclaimed, looking at all their faces and unable to understand what's gotten into them. I had run out of excuses and I couldn't help but wonder what I did to deserve such trust and loyalty from people I barely even knew. I could understand why Fang would want to come, and maybe even Nudge; but I didn't even really know Iggy and I'd only met Gazzy and Angel a few hours ago. Why were they risking their lives for a complete stranger? Why were they following me? What the hell were they all thinking?

"Because, Max, we started this thing together, we should finish it together," Angel said simply, giving me a small smile that made my heart clench.

God, they were too trusting, too oblivious. This whole situation just sounded like a story to tell their friends, like we were playing a school-wide game of tag and we were the runners just waiting to come across the It. How was this a game to them? Sure, they've come across the shooters, but they haven't seen death. They hadn't seen what Fang and I saw. None of them knew just how dangerous this was…

"_Fine._ Fine, you can come, but I won't be responsible for you guys," I relented, knowing I would somehow regret this. It's not like I could change their minds or tie them up somewhere to prevent them from coming with me, but I didn't like it. I didn't like this one bit. "Let's go."

I began ushering them through the bookshelves, letting them file ahead of me, when Maya's annoying voice rang out through the silence.

"You're more stupid than I thought."

I rolled my eyes and spun on my heel to face her once more. I knew I shouldn't have even entertained her bullshit, but she just really gets under my skin.

"It's called being selfless; you should try it some time," I said coldly, and Angel tugged my arm to get me to walk away.

She fake-laughed. "Are you seriously trying to be a martyr? Because it doesn't look good on you."

Pulling my arm free from Angel's grasp, I strode up to her until I came close enough to glare down at her. "Maybe I am, Maya," I hissed. "You know, we may be similar in a lot of way but I guess this is the difference between you and me."

And on that note, I turned around and left to go join the others as we exited the library, leaving her to ponder on that.

* * *

**Okay**, before any of you might question or criticize Max and the gang's confidence in escaping St. Xavier, I'm already admitting now that I don't know if this is the best action to take. Maybe they'll be successful, maybe not.

I've read some stories about school shootouts and how the survivors held their own. One article I read talked about how some students and faculty climbed up to the roof of their building and waited it out. There was another story about a group of students who locked themselves in a room without windows, piling all the furniture on front of the door and lying on the ground when the gunmen started shooting through the door. This situation can branch off into many possibilities.

As for this story, I've written it so that the shooters have placed an EMP machine in the school, which equates to no cell service. They can't call the cops, their parents, or any form of help. And like my high school, the buildings are situated in the middle of the campus surrounded by fields, enclosed by brick walls and gates. Max and the gang assume that the shooters have the gates guarded, and any external help may currently be in negotiation with the shooters, so their best bet is to find a blind spot.

They don't have a lot of options, so it's probably _extremely_ reckless and stupid for them to go around campus but hey, it's a story worth telling. :P

Let me know what you thought about their run-in, Max and Maya's history, and what you expect to happen next!

.: Tiffany :.


	7. Chapter Six

**Hi there!** I kinda only proof-read this once since I'm swamped with work (_already_) and I almost totally forgot about this, so just let me know if you find any mistakes. :) Personally, I'm not feeling this chapter, no matter how many times I've edited this in the past, but I hope you still enjoy it!

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**CHAPTER SIX**

We moved as quietly as we could – which was naturally the sound of three pairs of heels clacking against the marble floor and an extra pair that would occasionally trip over his own 'fancy footwork'.

That was Iggy, if you couldn't already tell.

It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but there was still a bit of unease going around campus with your ex-boyfriend, your sister's best friend, your Calculus seatmate, and two other freshmen you just met. I didn't know whether to start up a conversation to get to know the others and risk being overhead, or to stay quiet and brave thoughts of my dead classmates and the unknown fates of my siblings on my own.

I started to think about my best friend JJ, digging my fingernails into my arms and clenching my jaw tight to fight the tears, knowing that she was dead. I knew it was selfish, but I had to think about myself and the others first. I had to worry about the living before I could mourn the dead. While my mind kept flashing with scenes of spilled blood and splayed bodies, it took all my willpower to focus on the red-lit halls ahead of me, walking along the shadows with the rest following close behind. I wish something else could distract me from that truth, the truth that about one-third of the people in my grade were no longer alive, but I was all alone in my head and I didn't know what to do with myself.

"That was _exactly_ how I looked like when Mr. Borris' phone rang and _I'm a Slave 4 U_ started going off," Iggy snapped me out of my reverie, point at my face. "Were you reminiscing that time too?" he asked jokingly, his cloudy blue eyes alight with humor.

_Seriously, Iggy? _I was _so_ tempted to drop kick him to kingdom come, but instead of grumbling the threat on my lips, a tiny laugh escaped my mouth. I didn't know whether to chew him out or thank him for that. "So not the time, Ig," I said quietly, hugging my arms even tighter to myself.

Iggy somehow managed to get it through his thick skull that I was not in the mood to talk about it, so he instead changed the subject. "Okay, so I was thinking about a group name. Y'know, something to call ourselves collectively. Because in my mental narration of our adventures I keep calling us 'the gang' and it doesn't really have a nice ring to it."

"Iggy, I don't think-"

"I was thinking '6-ang'. Cause like, the six can look like a G for 'gang', but then no one would get that. Or how about '_Sixy_'? It's like, sexy, but six, 'cause you know we're six people."

"_Ig-_"

"Or, or, or we can be called the 'Classix'! Since it's like classic, but we're _six_-!"

"_Oh my God_, you're worse than Nudge!" I suddenly whirled on him, whisper-shouting.

Okay, a little bit of humor would've been nice, but I didn't think we would be coming up with _group names_ now. I didn't want to think about what happened in my class, but I didn't want to act like it didn't matter either. Those were people we both knew; people we've seen, and talked to, and known for years. How could Iggy go on making up silly names in the middle of a school shootout? Didn't he care at all?

Having heard what I said, Nudge turned back from her lengthy conversation with Angel to glare at me. "Hey! I take offense in that!"

"See, look what you just did," Iggy pointed out, shooting me a look.

"_Me? _You're the one trying to name our group like we're some clique! We're not even friends!" I blurted without thinking, raising my voice and subconsciously noticing that we'd come to a stop.

"_Max!_" Nudge and Angel scolded.

"What?"

"Well I'm sorry for trying to start a conversation!" Iggy said sarcastically, raising his voice to match mine.

I grabbed his arm to get him to look at me. "Look, I'd love to swap witty banter and funny stories with you sometime, Iggy, but right now is not the time."

Yanking his arm out of my grasp, he pushed up his huge glasses and narrowed his eyes at me. I didn't think I was that harsh, but I must've been wrong. "I don't even know why I decided to come with you since clearly we're not friends," he spat.

"I didn't ask you to!"

"Are we really going to argue about this?" Fang snapped lowly, which effectively caused everyone to shut up.

See, only a few minutes had passed since we left the library and already we were arguing. I knew I was better off going alone.

I told you we'd probably kill each other first.

After Fang broke off the argument, we all continued our way to the East building without talking, making our way to the connecting hall. I strode ahead of everyone else to lead the way, purposely avoiding Fang and Iggy altogether. I couldn't risk another disagreement so I kept my distance; Angel and Nudge right behind me with Iggy and Gazzy trailing, Fang keeping watch at the back. As I walked, I began to think about JJ and the rest of my History class again, starting to feel my eyes sting; when suddenly Gazzy walked ahead of me and started walking backwards to face us, a grin on his face.

What was he up to...

"My name is Zephyr Astor," he told us. We all just sort of slowed down in confusion. without skipping a beat, Iggy, Fang and I looked amongst one another above Nudge and Angel's heads, then shot Gazzy a 'what-the-fuck-are-you-doing' look, but he just waved his arms in indication to go along with it. I rolled my eyes, relenting.

"Hi Zephyr," we all droned like we were in therapy, wondering where he was going with this.

"And me and my sister are still alive because we were required to go to the guidance counselor since our parents recently divorced," he said.

I looked back up at him in shock to see a small smile on his face, clenching my sweaty palms on my upper arms.

I had always thought that that was just the way he smiled, but now I was starting to think to think that maybe that was the way he hid his sadness.

We all stopped walking; and I dropped my arms to my sides with an audible exhale, feeling so sorry for the kid. I even almost blurted out an apology, but I knew that it wouldn't help any. It wouldn't bring their parents back together.

After a prolonged silence, I cleared my throat. "Gazzy…why are you telling this to us?" I asked quietly, not knowing what else to say.

He gazed down at his shoes and shrugged, before looking back at us. "I don't know. I was thinking about it; our conversation with Mrs. Baker in her office, I mean; and while I hate what this whole thing has done to our family, I couldn't help but think that our parents' divorce…is what probably saved mine and Angel's lives.

"I mean, if they hadn't separated, then we wouldn't have been sent to the guidance counselor. And if we didn't miss our last class to see Mrs. Baker, we could've very well been in our classrooms, and we could be dead with the rest of our classmates. Who even knows if they're still alive?" he said, his eyebrows scrunching up as he put his thoughts together, biting his lip.

Such flawed logic. I didn't know how to respond to that.

"Well I'm James Griffith," Iggy spoke up, "People call me Iggy – and I'm still alive because I was skipping classes being the angsty teenager that I am, trying to figure out a way to earn more money to pay for my college tuition since my dad's an asshole who left when I was five and my mom's salary isn't enough to cover mine and my siblings' tuition," he said, quirking up the side of his mouth. "So I guess I have my asshole of a father to thank, or the economic recession for saving my life. What about you, Nudge?"

We all turned to look at her, and we had all somehow gotten into comfortable positions in the middle of the hallway. Angel was beside Nudge; Gazzy was squatting; and I was sandwiched between Iggy and Fang, leaning against the walls a corner away from the connector that lead to the East building.

"Well, Max found me in the girl's bathroom," she glanced at me, feigning nonchalance. "And I'm still here because my boyfriend broke up with me through a fucking text, and I was crying in one of the stalls."

I turned to stare at her.

I hadn't even known Nudge was crying. Thinking back on it, I could remember the way her eyes were slightly bloodshot as the light from my phone shone on her face, and the way she rubbed the back of her hand under her nose. I didn't think much of it then, but it all made sense. She was in the bathroom way before I'd entered.

"Well then I owe Dr. Dwyer for dismissing me early," was all Fang said, and I ignored the way he smirked at me.

Then they all turned to look at me.

Pushing off the wall with my foot, I walked ahead and rounded the corner, trying to hold back my smile. I could hear the rest start to follow.

"Aww come on, Max! What's your drama-bomb?" Nudge asked, trying to catch up to me. "Were you kicked out of class for answering back at your teacher? Needed time to yourself to ponder about your place in this world? Called to the principal's office for destruction of school property? Meeting a secret lover behind the school bleachers?" She elbowed me, and it was almost painful to swallow down my giggles.

I abruptly stopped to look at her, causing Angel to bump into my back. I was grinning as I told them, "Yeah, well, kudos to Mr. Wright and my bladder, because I couldn't stand another second of his lecture and I needed to take a piss. So there."

I looked back at the rest of our group with everyone's expressions filled with amusement and suppressed laughter; Fang smirking with this look in his eyes, and Angel eyebrows shooting way up her forehead. Before we knew it, we had all burst out laughing; complete with the knee slapping and the slow clapping. We were even still laughing as we continued to walk and enter the East building, complacent about all the noise we were making.

It wasn't even funny, not really, but there was some twisted humor about this entire situation. We almost couldn't believe that this was actually happening to us – _a freaking school shootout_ – yet here we were, bitter sarcasm and shallow happiness numbing and drowning out the reasons of why we weren't dead.

It was hysterical. Why were _we_ alive? Why me, and why Fang, and why the rest of us? Why have the six of us survived this long while the rest of our classmates and friends suffered? I highly doubted we deserved this, the odds playing in our favor.

What made me decide to get up and leave Mr. Wright's class, when on a normal day I would've suppressed my restlessness and waited it out?

Fate was funny that way. You never wake up and get ready for the day, thinking that it might be your last. You never imagine yourself in a life or death situation, or that you could actually get hurt from the likes of a cliché movie plot. But I wasn't complaining, even if that made me cruel. I hated how self-preservation made me selfish, but that was okay. As long as we were okay.

The teasing continued on as we walked and talked to get to Ella's classroom on the second floor, now discussing about the order in which we'd die if we were in a horror movie.

"I'm sorry Nudge, but the tribe has spoken," I shrugged, smirking at her as she complained about our opinions of her dying first.

"Hey, you gotta admit it's true," Iggy backed me up, "You'd most probably follow a trail of blood or something and walk right into the soul-sucking ghost's clutches."

"Yeah, and it's better than getting trapped in the boy's bathroom and being eaten while talking a piss," Gazzy added, sticking his tongue out at me and Angel, seeing as it was the both of us who thought of the way he'd most probably die.

"Because there's definitely some dignity in dying while holding your dick," Iggy said sarcastically while patting him on the back, a huge grin spreading on his face.

"Well at least I _have_ enough dick to hold," Gazzy retorted without skipping a beat, and in the next second we all burst out laughing at Iggy's expense. I'm pretty sure I busted an artery.

I was practically choking on my own spit, trying to say something but only laughing some more when we rounded a corner and finally reached Ella's classroom.

The atmosphere stilled instantly.

She would've had Biology as her last period. Glancing down at her schedule in my hands once more to make sure; I abruptly stopped and sobered up at the door, the rest of the group following suit.

Taking a deep breath and bracing myself for whatever I was about to get myself into, I pressed my back against the door and looked up into the door's small glass window.

I had expected a sea of dead 15-year old bodies bloodied and strewn about the room like I'd seen in my History class, or maybe even a few of the shooters pacing the length of the room while threatening the students with their lives. I had expected so much worse and so much more.

I never thought I'd come across an empty classroom.

Yanking the door open and striding inside the room with purpose, I tried to make sense of this situation I wasn't remotely prepared for.

Messenger bags and backpacks still littered the marble floor, with a few blazers hung on the backs of chairs and notebooks still left wide open on tables. They were all just _here_, they were supposed to be here. That definitely ruled out the possibility of an early dismissal.

"You're insane, Max, y'know that? I mean, did you even have _a plan-_" Nudge entered the classroom right after me, walking towards the front of the classroom only to stop short and pause mid-sentence. Everyone else had already entered the room now, taking in this new factor of an entire class missing as I had. Luckily, no one else has seen what Nudge was gaping in horror at, and predicting exactly what she was seeing, I reacted instantly and pulled her back towards the others.

"Iggy, take her," I said, giving him a meaningful look which I hope he understood, and he ushered the others out, leaving me alone inside the classroom.

After shutting the door and turning back to face the empty room, I slowly made my way to where Nudge stood just a few moment ago and came to a halt right at the end of the stage, putting a hand to my mouth as I stared at the lifeless body of my former Biology teacher, Mrs. Hardman.

She had been shot twice, both bullets lodged into her stomach where the wounds were now gushing out a puddle of blood where she lay. Her eyes and her mouth remained open, a silent protest in her expression. I could hardly recognize the color of her blouse, and it was hard to imagine how all that blood could come from a single body. My vision was just filled with _red, red, red_, and it was hard to revert my focus on anything else.

She was a great teacher with a very motherly nature. I remember how she used to approach me when I'd fall asleep in class and discreetly wake me up instead of embarrassing me, and how she would allow us to eat in her class even if school policies were strict about that kind of stuff. I could imagine the way she would've tried to protect her class, telling them to leave and hide and making sure she was the last one out, only to get killed in the process.

I wish I were brave enough to go up to her body and close her eyes like they do in shows, or say something poetic about her life; but I was neither of those two and could only take one last glance at the entire room before stumbling on wobbly legs to the back of the classroom and bracing myself against the wall to keep from tipping over.

Out in the hallway I could hear Nudge's soft crying. I should've gone out to comfort her, should've done _something;_ but I just stood there breathing deeply, trying to calm myself down.

I didn't know why I wasn't crying like she was. In fact, I had seen more – seen my entire History class, a few good friends, and even my best friend bloody and dead just about an hour ago – and yet I hadn't cried actual tears.

It wasn't because I was heartless, or because I was trying to act strong for the others. To be honest, none of this even felt real to me. I was still in denial of losing the people I loved, or the fact that we were all in serious danger at any given moment. It felt like this was all just a horrible dream that I would eventually wake up from, blinking up at Mr. Wright's lesson on ancient civilizations and discretely trying to wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth.

It just wasn't real to me.

I didn't allow myself to dwell on anything for too long because if I finally stopped to think about all that has happened, I would lose it. I would be stripped of my façade of bravery and opt to hide out in the janitor's closet until some parents or the police would finally notice that their children never came home from school. I would break down and give up.

I won't allow myself to believe this, not yet; but slowly I could start to feel the doubt and fear take over my heart.

The door silently opened as I was trying to get my breathing in check, wiping my mind clear of the scenarios it was starting to come up with. Between attempting to calm down and still trying to make sense of the empty classroom, I didn't even have to turn around to know exactly who it was.

"Nothing. There's no one here," I whispered desperately into the air, hugging my arms to myself.

"Max, it's going to be okay," Fang said, knowing exactly what I was thinking and hearing his voice come closer. "Ella's a smart girl. She would've known what to do. If we were able to get away, their class must've gotten wind of the shootout earlier and left to go and hide."

Fang was right. I had faith in Ella. While I couldn't even begin to figure out what happened to them or where they went, I had to believe they were still okay. I _knew_ in my heart that she was okay, that she didn't need me to save her because she had saved herself, but I couldn't ignore the way my heart dropped to my stomach. The fear was palpable, in my throat and in my veins. There were some truths that I refused to believe, but this one had to be true. Ella had to be safe.

Subconsciously, I began digging my nails into my upper arms; and if I didn't stop breathing erratically, I knew I would begin to hyperventilate. _Pull yourself together, Max. Breathe. _"But Mrs. Hardman is Ella's teacher, and she's _here-_"

Now Fang was standing right on front of me, gripping my arms in his warm hands and tilting his head downwards to try to look into my eyes. "Max, the shooters wouldn't kill a bunch of kids and take their bodies elsewhere. There was no other blood on the floor," he told me quietly, his voice smooth and assured. "They're _alive_; and we're going to find your sister and her entire class that way, okay? They're going to be _fine._"

Fang held me at arm's length, his palms scorching through my sleeves. Focusing on this heat, I'd managed to calm my breathing and get a grip on myself, accepting his words as fact. He had to be right. He should be.

I didn't even realize that he was trying to pry my clawed fingers from my arms until he was holding my hands in his, slowly lowering them yet somehow pulling me closer. At this point, I couldn't even think for myself as I glanced up at his face, his dark concerned eyes focused on mine. We were only a few inches away and I wished this was the only distance we would ever know. I loved it, and I hated it.

I hated how he knew exactly what to say, and how he was one of the only people who knew how to comfort me. I hated that he was right, and I hated that his touch made me feel safe enough to let my walls down.

I hated his dark messy hair that fell into his eyes, resisting the urge to brush it back; and I hated the fact that he was so gorgeous, knowing that he could no longer be mine. I hated how I could see the love in his eyes as he continued to gaze into my own, and the tiny smile on his lips that still made my heart skip a beat. I hated how I still wanted him and _loved_ him, even though I'd been the one to dump him.

And most of all I hated that we broke up, and that we never got back together like they always did in the movies.

Clenching my jaw to steel myself, I took a step back from Fang, one big enough to let his hands let go of mine. Instead of thanking him or kissing his cheek like I would've in the past, I only nodded once before heading for the door to get back to the others.

I really fucking hated this.

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**This scene** kinda reminded me of _The Breakfast Club_. Their confessions and reactions might not make sense to some of you, so to quote one of my favorite books, _Man's Search for Meaning_ by Viktor Frankl: _"An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior."_

Also, I gave a tiny, very unnoticeable hint on why Max and Fang broke up. I'm _finally_ gonna reveal what happened to them in the next chapter but I wanna hear your guesses and theories first. :D Shoutouts if anyone gets it right! Weeew~

Till next week.

.: Tiffany :.


	8. Chapter Seven

The subscriptions and favorites I receive for this story are great and amazing, and I seriously can't thank you enough for them; but I'd also love it if you decide to give some feedback. :) Do you have any concrit on their characterizations? Suggestions on what you want to happen? Prediction on who else they'll run into? Let me know!

None of you guys guessed correctly (and a lot of you suspected of Fang cheating haha!), but here it is – the answer on everyone's mind.

Everything in italics is a flashback, but it's the same argument. Enjoy!

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**CHAPTER SEVEN**

I thought that was the end of that.

I thought he was going to let me walk away, exactly how he'd let me walk away when I told him I was breaking up with him. I didn't need a confrontation, not right now, with everything that was going on; but apparently Fang couldn't take a hint.

"Max," he called out to me before I could even take two steps. "_Stop._"

The demanding tone in his voice made me spin on my heel to glare at him. "Stop what?" I challenged.

"Stop pushing me away. Stop acting like you're fine when you're not," he countered, meeting my gaze with his own and not backing down. He had always been the only other person that had enough courage to stand up to me. I rolled my eyes.

"So what do you want me to do? Run into your waiting arms and cry on your shoulder?" I snapped sarcastically. "We're not together anymore, and we're certainly not friends either."

"Well why can't we be?"

My eye widened at the suggestion. "You know exactly why we can't be friends. Not after what happened," I breathed, unable to understand where he was going with this. "Look, you were my best friend. You know me more than I know myself. Maybe two months ago this would all be okay, but right now I need to be strong on my own. I can't keep running to you every time I get scared.

"Over the past few weeks I've been thinking a lot, about us and about our relationship, and I realized that I've unintentionally become dependent on you. I would ask you to help me solve my problems; and when I can't, I run away from them by going to your house and spending time with you. We're together all the time; and when we're not we're on the phone, talking and texting each other. It's always been 'Max and Fang' – never one without the other. And I wish we never fought, never had to deal with the future so soon; but I can only be 'Max' now, and you have to let me go.

"I know you know how much my siblings mean to me, and that you seem to be the only person that can get me to calm down, but please let me try to deal with this on my own," I said, blurting out what I've been wanting to tell him the moment we ran into each other, hating the obvious desperation in my voice as it cracked. My eyes started to sting but it was _so _not the time to cry. I couldn't bear to deal with this kind of pain all over again in the midst of everything else.

His eyes softened, the earlier fire in his eyes replaced with the same kind of longing I had to bury two months ago. He took a step forward, dangerously close as I could feel my skin crave his. "Max…I can't let you go."

"Are we seriously going to rehash this right now?" I said tiredly, sighing. We've gone over this already. We've argued about this in the weeks that lead up to our break up. "You decided this! You were the one who told me you didn't believe in long distance relationships!" I pointed accusingly at him, slightly raising my voice.

This was _his_ fault. This was all on him.

"I told you," he said evenly, "I don't have to go to Columbia. Max, there's nothing wrong with Northwestern."

I was hit with a sense of déjà vu; arguing about this all over again, bringing up the same points, and feeling the same sense of helplessness that there seemed to be no way around this.

"_Fang, you've been going on about going to Columbia since we were in the 7__th__ grade. And Northwestern doesn't even have the degree you want!" I reasoned, pulling out of his arms to sit up in bed. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't get into Yale, but plans don't always go the way we want them to so I'm choosing the next best thing," I pleaded, holding his hand tightly in my palms and trying to get him to see it from my point of view. "Don't throw away your dream for me."_

He gazed down at our intertwined hands, his eyebrows scrunching up in thought. He huffed in frustration, and I could practically see the gears turning in his head as he tried to come up with more reasons to change my mind. But we've been over this. All has been said and done.

"But you were part of the dream," he whispered, tugging my hand and pulling me close until I was standing right on front of him again. "Do you remember how we had everything planned out? How we'd get an apartment together right in between our schools so it would only take us a few minutes to get to school. And I'd wake up to you, and come home to you; and we would talk about our days, and eat out, and explore the city, and just be right where we belong.

"_Instead, you're going to Chicago, but that's okay. Max, Northwestern is easily one of the best universities in America," the look in his eyes was almost enough to convince me, his breath on my face at our proximity. "Plans do change but it doesn't mean our dreams have to. We can still live together, and come home to each other._

"I don't have to lose you."

I looked up at him through my eyelashes, my voice soft but my gaze resolute. "Fang, you weren't going to," I said. "We haven't even graduated yet and you're acting like you're so sure we're going to break up the moment we try to work out a long distance relationship. A plane ride from Chicago to New York is only an hour and a half long. We can always visit each other; and if not, there's always video calling and texting. The distance doesn't matter to me. We've been together for far too long to let a few hundred miles keep us apart."

It was like reasoning with a child. You know how right you are, and you're explaining everything with clarity; but the other person just doesn't see things the way you do. There's no other way to convince someone who's been psychologically damaged the way Fang was.

"But that's _exactly_ what my mom said, and you know that," he argued; his dark eyes searching mine as he tilted his head, our foreheads touching. "Max," he breathed, desperate. "I want to believe you, but I _can't_. It just won't work."

I couldn't believe this was the thing, the one thing that kept us apart.

A part of me blamed myself for not getting into Yale. My first choice was the only university that I didn't get into; and for the longest time I had berated myself, thinking that I wasn't smart or good enough. I had beaten myself up so badly to the point that I couldn't concentrate on my studies and my grades began to slip, only for Fang and a few of my other friends to help me get back on my feet and convince me that it wasn't my fault.

There were some things in life that you couldn't understand, couldn't control. And while not getting accepted into my dream university was something that I couldn't control, loving someone was.

But ultimately our break up fell on Fang, and he knows it.

Fang's mother left his dad when he was eight, after having to work all the way in LA for six months. The next time he saw his mom, she was packing up her things and running away with another man that she fell in love with. She didn't bother to say goodbye, didn't even seem to care that his son was watching her walk away.

And if we didn't stay near each other for college, he was convinced I'd walk away too.

"What do you take me for? I'm not going to find someone else, Fang. I'm not going to cheat on you," I repeated the words I'd already told him before, trying to keep my voice calm. I understood why he felt that way, but I was still offended. It still hurt that he had such little faith in us.

"We don't have to be like them," I continued, squeezing his hand. "We're not like your parents, Fang.

"If you would just trust me we could make it work." My free hand reached up to hold his cheek, my fingers grazing along his jawline as I waited for the verdict of our second chance.

I would take him back. We could be 'Max and Fang' again if only he'd trust me, if only he took this leap of faith.

We were gazing into each other's eyes, black eyes meeting brown. I was searching for the trust we've had for four years, and he was looking for the assurance that mere words couldn't promise.

I had avoided Fang like the plague after our break up, because had I not kept my distance I knew I would've come running back to him in the days that followed. I would forgive him in a heartbeat. Practically the whole school was in shock at the news since there was no inkling or evidence of our disagreement prior to our split. It was as though we just woke up that morning and said, "Okay, let's call it quits."

I couldn't be around Fang because I knew that if I took one look at his eyes, I would cave. We had always been that kind of couple, the ones who communicated through their eyes and could look at each other from across the classroom and know exactly what the other was thinking. I knew all the movies and books always glamorized the idea of two minds perfectly in sync, but I have known Fang all my life that the idea of thinking differently seemed crazy. We shared the same morals, beliefs, ideas and thoughts; but at the same time respected each other's individuality. We didn't always need to be together; but when we were, we didn't always have to talk. We expressed our feelings though actions and looks.

And the way he was looking at me now, with his dark eyes close to midnight, convinced me that we could fix things between us. That we were going to be okay.

His gaze moved down, travelling from my eyes to my lips. I was treading on dangerous waters; because we were so messed up, I didn't even know where we stood anymore.

But I couldn't help it. I was already leaning forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and tugging his head down to pull his lips to mine. Fang was just seconds away from drawing my bottom lip between his teeth, both of us inhaling the same breath; when the sound of the door opening made me push him away and spin around to face a flustered Iggy.

"Umm wow, okay," he stuttered, biting his lip and looking down at his shoes. "Sorry to break up…whatever this was, but we've got a serious problem."

Then his voice took on a more serious tone, his eyes hard when he lifted his gaze to look at the both of us.

"Gazzy's missing."

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Three things:

First, **updates might start to slow down**, meaning the update after the one next week (chapter nine) might come after two weeks instead of the usual one-week wait. This whole thing was pre-written but now that I'm looking at the last three chapters, I'm unsatisfied with the ending and am thinking of rewriting it. Everything in the last few scenes is very fast-paced, so I wanna get the words right.

Shameless advertising: **I wrote a oneshot titled **_**Let's Talk**_ and I'll be posting it sometime next week before I post chapter eight. I actually wrote it over the summer and had it beta-ed by _SeaSaltChocolate_, so I'm just going through it one last time. It's a cute little faxy oneshot, an idea that wouldn't leave me alone, and I hope you guys decide to check it out. Subscribe if you'd like to keep a lookout for when I post it. :)

Sooo, **the reason for their break-up** kinda came out of left field, huh? A lot of you were expecting something more dramatic (with most of you guessing that Fang cheated/looked like he was cheating on Max with Maya), and to be honest I did too, when I first wrote that they were each other's exes. However, considering all that they've been through – eleven years of friendship and four years in a relationship – I couldn't imagine something like that happening. Even if this is written from Max's POV, Fang never cared for Brigid, or Maya, or any other girl but Max; that much was obvious. They're both still very much in love with each other.

Since I'm trying to keep this as realistic as possible, argument over a long distance relationship is a valid, logical reason. When I'd graduated from high school, only a handful (I can actually only count six) of the people who were in relationships are still together, and the main reason for those who broke up is because they realized there were 'more fish in the sea'. Another aspect of reality that I wanted to divulge is what happened with Max: that you may not get into your dream university, and that plans may change. This happened to some people I know, might've happened to people you know, and will happen to people you know. It's a sad reality; but like Max, you have to move on and accept the things you can't control.

Anyway, this story is going to be ending in four chapters. :) What do you want to happen? What do you think so far? And how do you think this is going to end? I'd love to know what you think.

.: Tiffany :.


	9. Chapter Eight

**I'm so overwhelmed**; I can't even.

_**100+ reviews**__ for seven (technically eight) chapters?! _You guys are far too awesome; I am undeserving. Thank you, thank you, a hundred plus times _thank you_ for all the subscriptions, favorites, reviews and the overall support! I honestly never expected this story to reach 100 reviews considering this was an off-the-top-of-my-head plot, and that this only ran for a short amount of time.

As mentioned in my last update, **I posted a oneshot** yesterday titled _Let's Talk. _Now that I think about it, it's kinda, sort of, indirectly related to one of the issues in this story (lol I didn't plan that; _Let's Talk_ has always been a backburner idea even before this backburner idea heh heh). I hope you guys decide to check it out, and I'd absolutely love and appreciate it if you'd let me know what you think. :)

Onward!

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

My heart leaped to my throat as Iggy's words sunk in.

Gazzy was missing. _Gazzy was gone. _

I felt like ice water had been poured down my back, and I was numb all over at the thought of him; spiked blond hair, wicked grin and all his tall lankiness; turning a corner without paying attention on our way here and losing us by accident.

_Oh God…_

I was _stupid_; so stupid for making something as trivial as _romance _a priority in the midst of everything that's been happening.

I had to screw on my head straight: We were in a fucking _school shootout_.

People were getting killed left and right; I still couldn't find both my siblings; Nudge was now traumatized over the corpse of her Biology teacher; Angel's probably losing her mind right now; Gazzy's missing and through it all Fang and I had been disgustingly pressing up against each other, talking about a future we may not even have. Sure, that was the first contact I've had with him since our break up, but none of that mattered right now.

I was an idiot. How could I think about anything other than the situation at hand? What the _hell _was wrong with me?

Pushing away from Fang as though his touch burned me, I sidestepped Iggy at the doorframe and immediately rushed to the girls; both Nudge and Angel crying softly, separately. Any thoughts of Fang, and love, and our relationship flew out of my mind as I solely focused on the girls and instantly pulled them both into my arms, wrapping them in a hug as best as I could as both their faces settled into the crook of my shoulders. It was insane, the five of us standing in the middle of the hallway in plain sight; but mourning loss and death wasn't something that could be brushed off.

Nudge and Angel were deceptively strong, both of them clinging tightly onto me and making it quite difficult to breathe. I was pretty sure they were soaking through my already translucent blouse; but I just continued to stroke Angel's and Nudge's backs, just hugging and stroking and letting them cry.

I've only known Angel for a total of about three hours, and I had never really been close to Nudge; but I couldn't help it. I felt the need to be there for them, just like I've always been there for my siblings. For as long as I could remember I've been taking care of Ari and Ella when no one else could, and from then on I've always felt protective of anyone who felt scared or helpless. I've always had this strange motherly, superhero complex; even though I knew it wasn't my job to save everyone.

Over the top of Angel's head, I made eye contact with Fang and Iggy. Both looked concerned, with Iggy looking more than a little uncomfortable. I couldn't blame him though – most guys never know what to do when a girl cries – but I sent him a reassuring smile, letting him know that I'll take care of the two.

I don't know how much time has passed before Nudge pulled back from my embrace, drying her tears on the sleeves of her blazer. From the red glare of the emergency lights, I could see that her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed after her little episode, and yet she still managed to give me a wobbly smile and tuck some fallen hair behind her ear.

"God, this is embarrassing," she admitted, "I'm sorry; I didn't think I'd-"

"Nudge, you have nothing to be sorry for, okay?" I whispered, squeezing her arm once to get her attention as she tried to turn away from me. "A lot has happened; we're all a bit shaken. It happens to the best of us. And you're so strong; stronger than you know, and even now you have every right to cry. Don't apologize."

She shot me a grateful smile that didn't reach her eyes. Nudge was just like Ella; they were both very sensitive people, and after years of giving advice and explaining things to my little sister I knew just the right words to say to her.

"And Angel, sweetie, we're going to find Gazzy," I assured her, now smoothing down her soft blonde hair and gazing down at her as she continued to crush my waist in her skinny arms like her life depended on it. "I _promise_ you. He probably just got distracted by something shiny. And anyway, all we have to do is follow the first god-awful stench we come across, right?" I said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Looking up at me with her wide baby blue eyes brimming with tears, she didn't laugh but at least she tried to smile back.

"Okay."

**- - - - -O- - - - -**

I kept an arm around Angel the entire time, leading the way with the girls by my side as Fang and Iggy trailed behind us. Although a small part of me deflated at the thought of wasting time retracing our steps, I was adamant and determined that no man get left behind. After my sappy little stint with Fang, Nudge's breakdown, and Angel's brief panic attack; we were all solemnly silent, Breakfast Club antics forgotten. The only sounds that could be heard were Iggy and Fang's occasional small talk, the click of the girls' Mary Jane heels, and Angel sniffling every now and then.

I perfectly understood if they wanted solitude in order to make sense of their own innermost thoughts, content with the peace; but Angel surprised me when she turned a bit in my arms to face me after our paranoid descent to the first floor and said, "Max, I understand now."

I gave her a perplexed look. "Understand what?"

"Why you're going through all this trouble, why this is so important to you," she said barely above a whisper. "I mean, Gazzy can be a real loser," she continued, and Nudge and I casually nodded in agreement.

"And an asshole." We shrugged a bit.

"And a _pervert_…okay, Gazzy can be a lot of things," she laughed lightly. "But he's still my brother, and I guess you never really realize how much someone means to you until they're gone."

As if on cue, Nudge and I glanced worriedly at each other before turning back to face Angel. "Sweetie, don't worry. We're going to find him. We're going to find Gazzy, and my siblings," I reiterated with conviction, and she could only nod. Even I had my doubts about what we were doing, playing everything by ear and crossing our fingers for the best, but I hope Angel never gave up hope.

Because if she didn't think she could find her brother, then what were the chances that I'd find my siblings?

"You love them that much, huh?" Nudge smiled to herself as we walked back to the hallway near the bridge at a steady pace, holding her blazer tight over her chest and hugging herself.

I took me a moment to realize that she was talking to me, and that she was referring to my siblings. "Oh, yeah," I replied meekly. "I know this is going to sound strange but Ella and Ari are more like my children, actually; so I'm very protective of them."

Suddenly both Nudge and Angel were looking up at me, a single question in both their eyes.

In the beginning, I never really thought that I would get this far to have to explain myself to them; but we have stuck together for hours now and I guess I did owe them a reason for going batshit obsessed on finding my siblings.

"Well…I know I completely crossed the line between concerned and crazy the moment I dragged everyone else into this mess…but you can't imagine how much they mean to me," I admitted rather awkwardly, not looking at either of them. "For a long time, I haven't just been Ella and Ari's sister. I…kinda had to be their mom too.

"See, our mother died when I was seven. Ari was just four, and Ella was five. I guess they don't really remember mom like I do since they were so young, but I was already at that age where everything left an impression," I explained. "Even though I was only about two to three years older than them, I had to raise them myself.

"I mean I love my dad, I really do," I was quick to defend, "but a part of me hates him for taking away my childhood. Growing up, there was no room for crying or making mistakes, because I was too busy taking care of Ella and Ari. I knew our dad had to work extra hours to be able to feed all of us, I get it; but I was eight, and I missed my mom too, and I had to act like her to keep things from falling apart," I said quietly, looking at my shoes as I put one foot on front of the other.

"Maybe it is kind of weird that I'm risking everything for my siblings, but I told my mom before she died that I would take care of the both of them… I promised her."

Only my best friend JJ and Fang knew about this and how I felt about having to be the mother figure of my family. To be honest, it wasn't really a big deal in day-to-day living. It was already routine for me to make sure they were out of bed, take them to school, drive them to their extra curriculars, do the chores, keep them in check, and all that; but now – in _this_ situation – I was going out of my mind wondering if they were okay, if they were safe, if they were already dead.

I never really favored discussing my emotions with anyone other than Fang, let alone telling two strangers why I tick to the point of feeling bare and embarrassed; but maybe this was how I dealt with the pressure. I needed to reaffirm my goals to convince myself that we could do this. Maybe I actually trust these two girls, who were trusting me with their lives.

"If it helps any," Nudge spoke up after a while, "Ella really looks up to you. Sometimes she'd tell me how much she admires and feels indebted to you, and I guess I finally understand why she feels that way."

"Thanks." I smiled. I needed to hear that. "But I don't feel so super though considering I dragged you all into this." Sure, we were looking for Gazzy now, but none of this would have happened if I hadn't allowed them to come along in the first place. They were such wonderful people – yes, Iggy included – but I couldn't be responsible for everything that happens to them. I didn't think much about it before, but I don't know what I'd do if any of them got hurt.

"What? No! Don't say that!" Nudge argued.

"I'm crazy enough to put you all in danger for my own agenda. If I die today, I'm definitely going to hell," I said, laughing it off.

Angel fisted the edge of my blouse to get my attention, making me look at her. "Wanting to save your siblings doesn't make you a bad person, Max."

"Yeah, but putting the lives of five other people does."

Trying to play it cool, I focused on our path to make sure that the coast was clear before we rounded some corners. However, from my peripheral I could see that Nudge had that look on her face whenever she argued with Ella about fashion or something, and I just knew she wasn't going to drop this. "Look, we volunteered to go. If anyone die-," She caught herself then, and I knew what she'd been about to say. "If anything bad happens to one of us, it was our own motives that landed us there," she said, obstinate.

"And why exactly are you aboard the express train headed full speed to the looney bin? Everyone knows I've got a mama bear complex but what's your alibi?" I retorted. It was at this point that I knew the boys were trying to eavesdrop, their footsteps sounding much closer; but I made longer strides in retaliation and the girls only kept pace.

It wasn't an extremely private matter but for some reason this was a conversation between us girls.

"Well, for one thing Ella's my best friend," Nudge said. "She's practically my sister, and you know that. And…and I don't know. Looking for survivors is better than doing nothing like Star and the others in the library." She threw her arms up in indication, rolling her eyes. "So what if it makes me crazy? I don't think I could bear to stand still, knowing that people were dying all around us."

"and y'know, Gazzy and I just sort of…did," Angel piped up; and I wanted to sigh in exasperation, knowing where this was going. "A part of me was telling myself to sit back and wait for help, but well…" she trailed off. "You were so convincing, so…inspiring that I can't help but believe that you're going to find your siblings and find a way out of this."

_Oh God._

I was a lot of things – average, tactless, sarcastic, stubborn – it's a wonder why Fang dated me; but I never thought of myself as _inspiring. _

They saw my insanity as courage. They took my recklessness for bravery.

"Angel, I'm not the best person you should trust your life with. I barely even trust myself," I confessed, pulling away from Angel's grip and clutching my own arms.

"I can hear it in your voice and I can see it in your eyes, Max," Angel continued, undeterred by my own uncertainty. "I don't doubt that we're going to make it.

"I don't know you very well…but I can tell that you're a really good sister. Ella and Ari are really lucky to have you."

My eyes betrayed me as they started to tear up, feeling my heart swell in spite of everything.

Angel barely knew me, she _didn't_ know me, and yet she thought I was a good sister.

That's all I ever wanted to be.

I discreetly blinked back the tears and gratefully smiled at her, and without Angel even knowing it she had said just the right words to keep me going.

"Although I may not know Iggy's reasons," Nudge started after a prolonged silence, "I'm _pre-tty_ sure we all know why Fang's here." I don't even know why I bothered to look at Nudge as both she and Angel smiled smugly at me, the atmosphere filling with an entirely different mood that I've been dreading since we were all thrust into the same closet. I just rolled my eyes.

"Guys, he's here because he knows my history. He knows how much Ella and Ari mean to me," I reasoned.

In fact, Fang was practically like an older brother to them. He was at the house so often that he'd helped Ella practice to get into the school's varsity in her freshman year, and he was the only one who could actually get through to Ari whenever he got in trouble and I had to give him some sort of lecture.

"But what are Ella and Ari to Fang? Max, you may be going out of your way to find them, but he's going out of his way to keep an eye on you," Angel countered.

"For your information, Ella and Ari think of him as an older brother; and you know that," I said to Nudge. "Besides, it wasn't as if I called him and told him to meet me out in the halls. I ran into him with Iggy. It was merely a coincidence."

"A coincidence…or fate?" I drew back from our little huddle to glare at them and they both raised their eyebrows simultaneously; it was hella creepy.

"Guys, things are really complicated right now," I whisper-shouted, trying to walk ahead of them.

"Like hell!" Nudge _actually shouted_.

"_Christ on a bike, Nudge!_" I lunged at her to cover her mouth, and now Fang and Iggy were definitely paying attention. _Great._

"Okay, I know it's not my business to pry but what do you expect me to think when St. Xav's It couple just break up without warning – and no one even knows why! I'm not going to act like I know what's going on between you two, but the view from above is so simple. It's clear you both still love each other so why can't you be together?" she whined, clutching onto my bicep.

I couldn't understand why it was so important to her. She sounded exactly like Ella when she would complain to me about the couple she ships in a certain television show; ranting about how so and so are perfect for each other and spewing jargon about 'going down with her ship', whatever that meant.

Quickly losing my patience, I sighed through clenched teeth. It was _so_ not the time to talk about this.

"Nudge, it's not your-"

"Max," Iggy came up from behind me and put a hand on my shoulder, saving me from having to explain myself. For once, I was thankful for his distraction. "_I need to piss,_" he hissed.

Now my face blanched. "You ain't serious."

"As serious as a heart attack," he said, adjusting his glasses. "Not everyone has a bladder of steel like you." _Sarcasm._

I crossed my arms over my chest, thought better of it, then uncrossed them and settled for glaring at him instead. He groaned in frustration. "Look, a bathroom's coming up 'round the corner and it'll only take a second."

"Only a second?"

"I promise."

"I'll count," I deadpanned. He grinned.

Together, we all moved forward with me and Iggy taking the lead. With a new sub-agenda on our minds coupled with a silent determination, we crept on the edge of the hallway in the shadows. Unintentionally, I'd been walking in the dark and avoiding the red patches of light that the emergency lights would cast down on the walls and floors; and I now noticed that the others had been doing the same thing. Even if we were very careful about the paths we decided to take, listening and observing before rounding a corner or proceeding down an intersection; a little extra camouflage wouldn't hurt and it was better to be safe than sorry.

The bathroom that Iggy was talking about was right at the entrance of East, a few halls away from the library we just came from who-knows-how-long ago. The doors to the bathroom were right smack in the middle of a T intersection, in plain sight of anyone coming down any of the hallways; so we practically took an eon scoping the area before Iggy made a mad dash for the bathroom, leaving the four of us on guard duty.

I was standing next to Fang, assigned to keep an eye on the hallway straight ahead; but Nudge's eyes on me were making me uncomfortable so I relented to her prodding and turned to her with wide, questioning eyes. You could practically hear the sarcastic '_What?!_' just from my look.

She startled me when her wide-eyed stare suddenly shifted into a smug grin, making her eyes squint and pushing her neck back to give her that triple chin look for additional smugness. She then raised her hand from her crossed arms, pointed at me, then pointed at a clueless Fang who was keeping watch in the other direction, then made a heart shape with her fingers; all the while continuing to shoot me that smug grin on her face.

I was going to _kill_ her.

Just as I smacked her hands to destroy the 'heart' and was about to get into an all-out smacking war with Nudge; Iggy poked his head out from inside the boys' bathroom, smiling from ear to ear and his eyes full of delight. It seriously concerned me.

"Max, Angel…I think you should come in," he breathed excitedly.

My answer was immediate. "No, Iggy, I don't want to see your 'precious jewels'," I said slowly, complete with air quotes.

Angel, on the other hand, looked legitimately horrified, her face paling at the unimaginable. "Look, we were just joking about a while ago. We don't actually think you don't have enough dick to hold-"

"_Eugh!_ I'm not going to show you my discostick! _Puh-lease,_" he said, standing right at the doorway of the bathroom."That's a privilege that not everyone has, thankyouverymuch."

I could practically feel Fang rolling his eyes as I did too, while Nudge giggled.

"Then I guess I should be really honored then." Another voice said from inside the bathroom; and when Iggy took a step back, a lanky blond-haired boy I'd grown familiar with came out from behind him with a huge smile on his face. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Gazzy!" The girls exclaimed simultaneously; and Angel enveloped him in a huge hug, tears streaming down her face. I was so happy we were finally complete again, turning to look at Fang when yet another voice joined the conversation.

"I don't know, man. I'm just lucky he didn't point that _thing_ at me and decide to bless me with his holy piss or something," _he _said, and I would know that voice anywhere.

My eyes widened; my heart swelled; and as I spun on my heel to look for the owner of the voice, I felt a bit of that hopeless, broken part of me patch up together again at the sight of him.

"_Ari!_" I yelled as I tackled him, having to tiptoe even in heels because he was that much taller than me. I felt his arms go tight around me, his chin tucked into my shoulder like he used to do when he was little, and for the first time I let the others see me cry.

I had finally found my brother.

* * *

**I figured that the title** of this story was quite vague and un-understandable, but I didn't want to spell it out for you either, so I decided to dabble in some disgustingly obvious, obviously first-time prose:

several hours, minutes

how quickly strangers have come to live

in my lungs

(as talk is the foundation for

you and i)

with the spinning second hand

and exes on our hearts,

we all share the same naïveté

as we share hearts

_in gunshot silence, in blood red lights_

In addition, **take note**: In any horror/suspense-themed story, know that there will be death.

Next chapter will be posted around two weeks from now. Let me know what you think of this chapter! :)

.: Tiffany :.


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